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- Launched: May 30, 2007
- CEO: Jason Calacanis
- Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
- CTO: Mark Jeffrey
- Mahalo means "thank you" in Hawaiian
- Slogan: "We're here to help"
- Backed by Sequoia Capital VC firm
- Podcast: Mahalo Daily
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Mahalo is a human-powered search engine and a knowledge sharing service. Mahalo aims to help users from all corners of the Internet, quickly find the most accurate possible information on any topic. Mahalo users are encouraged to join Mahalo and share their expertise in exchange for Mahalo Dollars, which can be cashed-out. This page can be the start off point for every new Mahalo user as it offers manuals to all of the features found within Mahalo.com.
Mahalo works by tipping it's users for providing accurate and helpful internet research. Anybody can get started at earning for research by Answering questions for Mahalo.
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Live Mahalo Tutorials
Every Wednesday at 12PM PST, Mahalo editorial director @Lon is live within the Mahalo Tutorial room to provide live, personal insight on how Mahalo works. The tutorials also provides an excellent live forum where you can ask any question about Mahalo and how it works, we invite all new users to join the tutorials. -
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Introduction: The Three Corners of Mahalo
Mahalo is a human powered search engine, all information you find on Mahalo is created and curated by the members of the Mahalo Community, users are rewarded in "Mahalo Dollars" for their contributions to the search engine. Check out how Mahalo Dollars work to learn how they can be traded in for real dollars.
There are three main money making components to Mahalo, each is relatively unique and users can participate at their own leisure in each area. Here are the three main Mahalo areas you can become familiar with. User manuals are posted in the recommended order of reading.
1.Mahalo Answers: This is the main community hub, users come here to ask and answer questions about anything. Every question offers a monetary tip for the answerer who provides the best answer, and there are daily contests that users old and new are invited to participate in.- Must Read Guides Include
- How Mahalo Answers Works,
- Mahalo Answers Etiquette
- Copy and Pasting on Mahalo
- How To Get a Best Answer on Mahalo
- Mahaloian of the Week ProTips
- Mahalo Belts
- How Undecided Voting Works
- Answer of the Day Contest
- How TwitterSearch Works
2. Page Management: Search results on Mahalo.com are built and and managed by Mahalo community members. Mahalo compensates the manager with 50% of the advertising revenue. Here is a list of the top earners since the program began in June 2009. Managers are to be resident experts on the topics they manage. Mahalo mangers are to be honest, trustworthy sources for their topic and keep the pages updated and curated for future visitors.
- Must Read Guides Include
- Mahalo Page Management Guide
- Mahalo Vertical Management Guide
- How to Build a Mahalo Page
- How to Write a Guide Note
- Copy and Pasting on Mahalo
- How to Market a Mahalo Page
- Google Analytics for Page Managers
- Mahalo Tutorials
3.Mahalo Tasks: These are small pieces of writing work that Mahalo editors need completed, Mahalo members can claim the task, then get paid for it's completion. There are often contests centered around Tasks as well. Mahalo is currently in the process of building teams of writers to manage heavy quantities of task writing.
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Get to Know Your Profile
To get to your profile click anywhere you see your username on the site, you can always find your username in the upper right hand corner. The image t ... read moreTo get to your profile click anywhere you see your username on the site, you can always find your username in the upper right hand corner. The image to your left points to the 6 main elements of your user profile, they are explained as such.
1. Your profile image, this is the image that will be associated with your username, the default avatar image is one you share with every new user, we encourage you to upload your own profile image, if you don't have one to upload, a lot Mahaloians users use Weeworld.com or the South Park avatar creator. After you create the avatar simply save it to your computer and use our upload option.
2. This is the Direct Question box, users can ask you questions from your profile, this is mostly used by Mahalo staff members to contact users.
3. You can edit your biographical information by and link to profiles you have across the web, like Twitter and Facebook.
4. This is an informative section that updates you on all your activity on the site.
*Recent Activity: This shows the latest interactions with you on Mahalo Answers.
*Answers: This is where you find your Mahalo Answers history
*Tasks: This is where you find you Mahalo Tasks history
*Pages Managed: This keeps track of all the pages you manage within Mahalo Search, it will show you how many views and how much revenue they have earned.
*Settings: Here you can manage your email notifications and password settings.
*Friends: Connect with other Mahaloians by adding them as friends, they will be listed here.
5. Here you can request to payout your balance and you can request to manage more Mahalo Pages.
6. There are two types of statistics listed in this section, first your "Q&A" stats which adds up your public Mahalo Answers activity. The 2nd section "Site Activity" lists your Mahalo Search and page management stats.

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Mahalo Search Engine Results
Mahalo's search engine results are organized based on your clicks. So every time you click on a certain image, video or link on the page, you are helping us keep the site updated. Thanks!But your options don't stop there. If you're looking at an image or a video section, and you feel like we've missed something great, you can pitch in by adding an image or video you've found somewhere else to our listings.
Once you start attaining higher belt levels, you will receive more and more "powers" and opportunities to edit and enhance Mahalo pages. If you really enjoy page building, read how to build a Mahalo page and join us by becoming a page manager.
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Belts and Points
Any significant action you take on Mahalo or Mahalo Answers is worth points.A brand-new Mahalo user starts out with a White Belt and 50 points. As you contribute information to Mahalo pages or participate in Mahalo Answers, you will earn points that allow you to "level up" to higher belt levels. 100 points gets you your yellow belt, 500 earns you a green belt and 2,000 gets you a purple belt. There are brown and black belts as well, and these will require not only that you earn 8,000 and 13,000 points, respectively, but that you pass an evaluation by Mahalo's staff and community based on your overall positive contributions to the site.
View previous Brown Belt Tests Here, View previous Black Belt Tests Here
To learn more about Mahalo Belts and Points check out this in depth information page on the topic. Higher belts are worth more access and privileges on Mahalo.
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Mahalo Dollars
On Mahalo, we want to pay you for the quality work that you do. All payments made on both Mahalo are in the form of Mahalo Dollars. Each Mahalo Dollar is currently worth $0.75 when paid out via PayPal. Once you earn more than 150 Mahalo Dollars, you can request to be paid via PayPal, on your tips settings page. When you submit your request, we'll transfer the full balance, or the portion of the balance you choose, to your PayPal account on the 15th of the following month.Each of the three corners of Mahalo offers a different opportunity to earn money.
(1) Mahalo Answers: Many questions on Mahalo Answers have tips attached. If you answer the question, and your answer is chosen as the "Best Answer" for that question - either by the person who asked the question or the community - we will deposit the tip into your Mahalo account.
(2) Tasks: Sometimes, there are specific portions of a Mahalo page that our internal staff will assign to the community for Mahalo Dollars. These will include contributing to a page's Guide Note, adding Fast Facts, selecting the best links on the page to serve as a "Mahalo Top 7" or even building an entire page from scratch. If you complete these tasks to the satisfaction of Mahalo's editorial team, you will receive the tip.
(3) Page Management. If you claim a Mahalo page and keep it updated you will be rewarded with 50% of the revenue generated from that page will be added to your Mahalo Dollar balance.
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Widgets
Individual and informative widgets are available for every Mahalo Topic page, and can be found in the "About this page" section in the bottom right-hand corner. When you place these widgets on your website or blog, it will help to draw traffic to your page, and of course advertising revenue as well. This can be a great way to market and promote Mahalo pages. You will also be paid M$1 for every 1,000 views to your embedded Mahalo page widget, provided you follow all the guidelines.
Mahalo Dollar payouts for widget views are made with Mahalo's sole discretion, and must be based on legitimate use of the widgets. This would include targeted placement of Mahalo page widgets on high-quality content sites.
The Mahalo widget should not be placed within toolbars. As well, the widget should never be placed alongside illegal or inappropriate content. All content featured alongside the widget should resemble Mahalo content - helpful, high-quality and original writing and features that enhance the user's Web experience and provide relevant information.
For more information about using and embedding Mahalo Widgets, check out our Mahalo Widgets guide.

