April 10, 2007
One of my goals for this year was to find some ways to make money online, so that I could do them while I was at work, and earn some extra cash for vacation. Now I'm starting to wonder if I can earn enough to drop down to only working part time, and making the rest of my income online. So far, I haven't exactly had monumental success, but I thought I'd share some of my ups and downs here for anyone else who is trying to do the same thing!
I've been doing paid online surveys for quite a while now- six months maybe? These are the companies I use:
Pinecone Research: This one is by FAR the best. I get an average of one survey per week, and each one pays $5. They send checks super fast, too! I save the checks up until I get several, and then cash them and put them in my Disney fund. For my last trip, I had about $80 worth of these- yay! The surveys are usually asking about ideas that companies have for new products. Sometimes you have to watch a commercial, sometimes you just read a description. Most of them take around 20 minutes, which means I'm making $15/hr doing them. Not shabby! The only down side is that they aren't always open for new people to sign up, and when they do, they advertise it through banner ads on other sites, so it can be really hard to get started!
Lightspeed Opinion Panel- This one is probably my 2nd favorite of the bunch. The surveys don't pay as much as Pinecone- these usually pay between 75 cents and $3 per survey. Instead of getting a check after each survey, you are rewarded points which you can spend on cash and prizes. I like it because they offer Amazon gift certificates! I've probably made about $30 from this site in the same time period that I've made $100 from Pinecone. On the up side, unlike Pinecone, you can sign up anytime. I can't find anything on their site about getting paid for refering people, so I'm guessing they don't. Boo!
MySurvey- I like this one just because the surveys are frequent. They do have a referal program (about $1.50 earned for each friend refered), but they don't have a link for it, so if you want to join this one and let me get credit, leave me a comment or an e-mail with your first name and e-mail, and I'll send you an invite. I've made about $14 here so far- each individual survey doesn't pay much, but there are enough of them that they add up pretty quickly.
Opinion Outpost- This one has a Western theme (I actually kind of like the cheesy themed ones- it makes them stand out in my memory). I'm listing them 4th just because they don't have surveys available as often as the first three, and they only pay 15 cents to $1.00 per survey on average. I've earned about $16 here so far.
TestSpin- My main problem with Test Spin is that often you will answer 5-10 questions, only to find that you don't qualify for a survey. The ones you do get to do pay fairly well, $1-$15 each in general. I would say that I only qualify for one in five, though. I have only earned $9 here so far, but I admit that's partly because I often ignore the survey notices, since they tend to be hard to qualify for.
Other Sites:
I've tried quite a few new sites this week, with various
results. I think my favorite so far is
myLot. It is a
community that pays you to post on the message boards and blogs.
No, seriously! I made 35 cents my first day and yesterday I
made about 60 cents.- not
much, but it adds up to an extra
$10-$20/month. I can see how it could easily end up as a lot more as I
get more involved in different
discussions. I still can't believe they are paying me to talk
about Gilmore Girls and Harry Potter. Now if I can just find
someone to pay me to eat and sleep, I will be all set! MTurk:
Let me warn you in advance- MTurk is incredibly addicting!
It's like crack or something. It's a company set up through
Amazon that pays people to do simple tasks that can't be done my a
computer. The pay is really small- most tasks pay 1-10 cents
each, but it adds up.
I tried one podcast transcription, and HOLY CRAP. Transcripting is HARD work! I am a freaking fast typer, but I couldn't keep up at all! My hands started to hurt after 15 minutes! It took me 42 minutes to transcribe a 9 minute podcast. I did get rated well by the person who approved it, though, which meant a $1.19 bonus.
Another project I did involved clicking which phrases related to a specific topic. Those were quick and easy, but there weren't a lot available, and they ran out quickly.
The most addicting one is sponsored by a company called Geospatial Vision. You get a set of 50 images taken driving down a road, and you have to mark various aspects- signs, sidewalks, lampposts, etc. I can't explain why it is fun, but it is! I think part of the draw for me is that the photos are taken in England, so it's a little like walking down a street in another country.
All together, I've made about $6.50 on mturk- not much at all, but still something!
InboxDollars- If you're already planning to sign up for survey sites, you can make extra money doing it
here. They also pay you for signing up for trial memberships of things, refering other people, taking surveys, playing games, etc. Please use my link if you sign up- I get $5! The only negative I've found so far is that you have to have $30 in your account before you can cash out.
Hippie Pay- I just joined this one yesterday, but I find the hippie theme hilarious. They have paid surveys, other paid offers, and a game that I want to play!
I'm almost embarassed to admit that this list still doesn't cover all of the stuff I've tried lately. Frankly, however, the rest have really sucked, and I'm tired of typing, so I shall end this here!
If you know of any other online companies that actually pay decently, or are at least fun to do, let me know!
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