Thursday, December 13, 2012

Making Money on YouTube


Finding legitimate ways to make money online can be difficult, but one site most of us trust is YouTube.com.  I have recently started a YouTube channel for gaming (Call of Duty, BF3, etc..) and wanted to share this information with all of you.  My channel can be found at www.youtube.com/mrgoober814

YouTube videos can be monetized with AdSense, but that isn't necessarily the only way to make money on YouTube.  You can use YouTube videos to advertise your brand, your blog, or even your product.  YouTube is one of the biggest markets on the web, just a few stats to remind you:
  • Over 800 million unique users per month
  • Over 4 billion hours of video watched each month
  • YouTube is available from 350 million devices
How many other platforms can say they have this much traffic and keep a straight face.  YouTube is also very socially oriented, people talk about videos and share them on Facebook, Twitter, and through emails.

What is holding you back from jumping into YouTube? If you don't know how to use it, I'm sure there are millions of videos that can show you how it's done!  Below is the 1st video from my gaming channel if you are interested.

 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Bing Rewards Account Levels

The Bing Rewards program added new membership levels to help earn more points and get discounts.  The pictures below are the 3 membership levels: Member, Silver, and Gold.  The left column is the requirements and the right column is the rewards.

The basic member level is where everyone starts.  There isn't much that needs to be said about this level.


The next step up is the silver level, this is what I have achieved so far.  You must complete the welcome to rewards tour, Welcome to Bing tour, and pick a reward to set as your goal.  These steps take about 5 minutes to complete.  You must have also earned 200 credits over the lifetime of your account.  This means that you have done 400 searches and received 200 credits for those searches.  You don't have to still have the credits or have had them all at once.  Once you reach this level you get 50 credits added to your account and can start working towards the next level.


The final membership level is gold and I am almost at this level.  You must redeem credits for your first reward, if you bought some Microsoft points with credits this step is already done.  Over the lifetime of your Bing Rewards account you must have earned 750 total credits, I don't believe the 50 bonus from silver counts towards this.  The biggest hurdle for me is completing 150 rewardable searches, up to 20 per day.  I am almost there for this month, but there is a slight catch.  If you complete 150 rewardable searches in April and then don't use the program as much in May, you will revert back to a silver membership.  Once you receive the gold membership you get 5% discounts on Microsoft Points/Xbox Live Gold subscriptions and 10% off of all other rewards.

All in all the rewards aren't really that fantastic, this would be the difference between spending 500 credits and 475 credits on 400 Microsoft Points.  However, the 25 credits saved could be a day or 2 of earning, so it is kind of nice.  The free 50 credits for earning silver is a nice touch, but you should also receive credits for earning and maintaining a gold membership level.

I hope this helped all of you out there that like to participate in the Bing Rewards program like I do.  All of the multiple Bing accounts that I get points from are currently silver memberships, so I will be getting some free DLC or games soon!

Friday, April 20, 2012

1,000 Views!

I want to thank everyone for helping making this possible, when I checked my blog today I had 1,075 views!  Without all of you this never would have been possible.  I apologize for the break in posting, I had to take care of my family.  My son was born on April 11th, 2012 and I have been taking vacation to spend time with him and my fiancee.

Just a brief teaser on what to expect in the coming days.  I was finally accepted to Key For Cash after scoring in the 99th percentile.  I will do a write up on how it goes once I start doing the work.  Bing Rewards has also made some changes that might really interest some of you guys out there.  Also, I will update you all on Ashley's experiences with Amazon's Mechanical Turk.

Again, I would like to thank all of you for reading my blog!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

He Is Here!

I am finally a father!  Tobias Edward Thornton was born at 4:44PM on April 11th, 2012.  I am taking a brief hiatus from Daddy Weight Loss to concentrate my attention towards my new family of three.  I will keep you all updated. For baby news, please head over to my other blog:

http://daddytobe2012.blogspot.com

Monday, April 9, 2012

Social Networking

Sorry I haven't been around much, I was just enjoying my Easter vacation.  Today I want to bring up Social Networking and how it can help with making money online.  Anytime I find a new opportunity to make money, I post it on my Facebook and Twitter.  Every time I post a new post on my blogs I post it on Facebook and Twitter. 

When looking at my blog statistics, Facebook is my largest traffic source.  The one thing to keep in mind is to try very hard not to anger your friends and followers.  The last thing everybody wants is a friend who posts links all the time and fills up your news feed.

These friends and followers you have are already interested in what you have to say, so they are more likely to help than people you don't know.  Just keep this in mind next time you need page views or referrals.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Using Amazon Mechanical Turk Efficiently




Last night, Ashley decided to start working with Amazon Mechanical Turk to help pay for gas, food, and spending money.  She tried quite a few different HITs before finding something she was looking for.  She finally found one and then timed herself doing them.  She was able to consistently maintain $4.50/hour USD, which is pretty impressive compared to the other online methods we have looked at.  She received an email from the "employer" telling her that her progress was exemplary.  I thought this would be a good time to share some of my personal tips on how to be successful at Mechanical Turk.

My biggest tip is that to find something that you like doing and is easy for you, don't worry about how much you get paid per HIT.  Some hits may take an hour and only pay $3.00 and you can't repeat them, while others pay $0.15 to complete, but only take 30 seconds to complete.  These types of jobs usually have tens of thousands of jobs available and you can have very little downtime between jobs. 

If you have the equipment, dual monitors can effectively double the amount of work you can do in the time given.  If you have a laptop, most laptops have a VGA port on the side to add a second monitor.  Desktops usually require a capable video card, but some computers come with the ability from the factory.  A dual monitor capable card can cost anywhere from $30 USD up to... well the sky is the limit with video cards.  Most users can use a low end card, but gamers may need to look at more expensive cards.  If neither one of the options are possible, you may have one more trick available.  In Windows 7 you can use the "Aero" features to split your screen on one monitor.  Simply press and hold the Windows key on your keyboard (Usually between Ctrl and Alt, same icon as the start button) and tap the left or right arrow key and then release the Windows key.  This is called "Aero Snap" and can be a very nice feature in a pinch in that you can have two windows splitting your screen.

A lot of jobs on Mechanical Turk require you to do multiple web searches and then copy the web addresses into the HIT.  If you follow the directions correctly, you will have to type http:// on each address.  Instead of typing http:// each time, type it once and then copy it into each box.  This way the boxes will be ready to accept addresses and you will shave seconds off of your time.

Also, when you first start using Mechanical Turk, make sure to verify your bank account immediately.  This way you won't have to wait 5-7 days to verify it once you reach the payment threshold.  This can be done at the link below.


If I think of any other tips, I will post them as I find them.  I hope that these tips help my readers in their endeavors.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Update: Mechanical Turk/Amazon Payments


My apologies to my readers and myself.  I didn't realize that the money earned on Mechanical Turk, which is tied to your Amazon Payments account, is able to be deposited into your personal checking account.  The minimum payout is $10 and should take about 5-7 business days.  I now wish that I wouldn't have spent the money on Amazon and that I would have waited to hit the threshold.  At least I can help inform my readers so that you don't make the same mistake I did.  The verification is similar to PayPal in that Amazon deposits 2 random amounts into your checking account and then you confirm them on the site.  This takes about 5-7 business days as well.

How are you all doing with making money on Amazon Mechanical Turk?

Monday, April 2, 2012

I Love Bing Rewards!


I love Bing Rewards, now let me tell you why.  I have been doing my "tasks" everyday and so has Ashley.  I have 3 other people doing it just because.  That means that every week on average I receive codes for about 500 Microsoft Points.  By my calculations that is about $6.25 USD every week that is coming in, can't beat it since I am only doing about 5 minutes of work each day.  

Yesterday, while playing Xbox 360, I noticed on the dashboard that a Games on Demand special was running.  I have never looked at these games because they are expensive compared to GameStop and you can only use a credit card, no Microsoft Points.  Well at least that is what I thought!  I have been wanting to play the Mass Effect trilogy ever since I heard about the original Mass Effect.  I have never thought to pick it up at the store and when I do it is out of stock.  Mass Effect was on sale yesterday for $14.99 and it was $19.99 at GameStop earlier that day while I was out and about.  I clicked on Mass Effect and noticed that at the bottom of the screen there was an option to "Pay with Microsoft Points."  I pressed that button and confirmed the purchase for 1200 Microsoft Points.  

The moral of the story is that I probably would have never played Mass Effect if it wasn't for Bing Rewards.  I still haven't actually played Mass Effect as it is an 8gb download and for some odd reason took over 12 hours to download.  I just thought it would be nice to be able to post a success story today!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Padbux, Scam or Not?


I was recently referred to Padbux and thought it might be worth giving a try.  The ads claim that you get 15 cents per ad click and the minimum payout is $1.00.  I created my account and jumped in to look around at the site.  The ads provided only pay $0.01 instead of $0.15 as stated.  The minimum payout is $3.00 instead of $1.00 as far as I can see.

My first day I was offered 8 ads and my account had $0.10 in it from registration.  I went through the ads and earned $0.08.  Basically you click on each ad, a new tab opens, after it is open 20 seconds you type a 2 digit verification code, the page closes and you go on to the next ad.  While the 20 seconds is counting down you can be in another tab doing whatever you want.  This is nice because I only spent about 15 seconds actively dealing with the ads.  However, the next day I logged on and only had 5 ads available and earned $0.05.  For logging on to the site twice I have $0.23 in my account that I can withdraw once I reach $3.00.  At $0.08 earned each day, you should earn $2.40 in one month if you logged on every single day.

Is Padbux a scam?  That is a hard question to answer.  You can "rent" referrals and you can "upgrade" your membership, these ideas seem a little scammy to me.  I would declare the site as a definite waste of time, but not a scam just yet.  I will continue to log into the site for a few weeks and see what I can declare after that.

Padbux pays via Liberty Reserve, AlertPay, and PayPal.  They pay you for referrals as well, so as always my referral link is below.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

MinuteWorkers Scam?


Ashley referred me to this site, she wanted to know if it was a scam or not.  It is similar to Amazon's Mechanical Turk, but a much crazier idea.  Instead of having organizations create the jobs, users can create jobs. For anyone trying to make money online this is huge!  Instead of trying to get referrals and the like for other sites you can pay people to do these things.  Pay people to sign up for other sites, like/favorite YouTube videos, or bookmark your blog.  The sky is pretty much the limit.

You can complete these offers to make money, but I found something else that I thought was worth mentioning.  Minute Workers has a forum that includes site related boards as well as general discussion boards.  After 50 posts are made on your account they start to pay, the general payouts are:

New Post: $0.01
New Thread: $0.01
Per reply to your thread: $0.01


If you decide to just cash-out instead of reinvesting your money, Minute Workers has 2 options available.  The standard cash-out minimum is $10 with no fees.  You can also cash-out at $2 for a 10% fee, which is a pretty cool difference with this site.  Minute Workers pays via PayPal and AlertPay.  As far as I know this service is available from any country.

One important thing with this particular site, just like Mechanical Turk, is to only accept jobs that you are able to finish.  Minute Workers has a reputation value assigned to each member and if it dips too low they will delete your account.  The reputation is based on jobs accepted and then compared to jobs completed.  When you join your reputation will be 100%, 75% or above is acceptable.  Reputation rules are not in place until after you complete 10 jobs, a notification will be sent if you dip below 80%. On Minute Workers all jobs are approved within 7 days.  If an employer doesn't approve/deny your proof of the job, Minute Workers will automatically approve the job and credit the money to your account.

As always, this site allow for referrals and will reward you for them.  As far as I know the bonus is $0.05 per signup and $0.10 after they complete a successful job.  I don't think you get further bonuses after the referred person continues working.  My referral link/banner is below, if you liked my review I would appreciate it if you signed up using my link.

minute workers

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

No Blogging Today


Sorry everyone, it is a really hectic day today and I won't be posting anything on any of my blogs today.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Who Is Behind MegaTypers.Com?


I was looking back through some of my blog posts and I am really curious, Who Is Behind MegaTypers.Com?  I can't seem to find anything, but I really want to know.  I have a feeling after doing some research that the pay per 1000 images might be going up due to the rise in popularity of MegaTypers.  If anyone has any info on this site, let me know.  I still think it is a waste of time, but I am really interested in it.

They claim that they offer services to convert scanned papers into editable digital documents.  Why can't I do that, why do I have to do captchas only?  It almost looks like they are doing the captchas for blind people, but I need confirmation on that. Over on ProTypers.Com they say the same thing, but a little more straightforward.

Are we helping the blind avoid captchas?  Or is this just a way to make us feel better about what we are doing?  If this is the truth it will make MegaTypers/ProTypers feel like less of a scam to me.

Sign up for Mega Typers at http://www.megatypers.com/register and use my referral code DDR.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Update: YouData.Com


I received this in my email on Friday night.  I couldn't stop laughing, just the thought of someone sending 49 cents is hilarious to me. When I got home I logged into PayPal and found this:


So I finally found a legit place to make money online!  Hold that thought, there is a little problem with YouData.  I earned this money and now have to wait until other offers are listed on my account.  I logged in again today and nothing.  This is the problem with good sites they only have a few offers available, but they do pay real money.

I will keep an eye on my YouData account and I will keep you all updated.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Looking for Guest Blogger: Fiverr.com

I am looking for a blogger that has experience with fiverr.com.  Working a full-time job doesn't give me enough time to work on a site like fiverr.  For those that don't know fiverr.com is a place where people sell services for $5.  Services range from funny little things to really serious services.  You might find someone that will sing Happy Birthday to you in Spanish.  On another hand you could find someone that can re-design your website for $5. 

I know of 2 people personally that work on fiverr and they make decent money, a little over $100 USD per week.  They have something I don't have, a very unique skill.  One of them can speak Latin fluently and the other has an amazing singing voice. 

If anyone is interested in writing this post please let me know!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Update: YouData.Com


I got a chance to look into YouData.com today and I have a good feeling about this one.  I also read some other bloggers that have used it, other bloggers that I trust.  The initial sign up and survey takes about 15-20 minutes and then you are off to making money.  The only problem is that the site is fairly new and they don't have many ads to view right off the bat.  Once I was done with my profile, I spent 1 minute looking through ads and earned 50 cents.  The site told me to come back later when more ads should be available.

I can't personally confirm it, but another blogger I spoke to said that she gets paid weekly on Fridays and they do not have a payment threshold.  She has made something like $10 USD over the course of a month.  Not bad for spending only 1 minute a day, 25 days per month.  If you figure it out for her time she is making a little over $20 per hour.  Not something to make a living off of, but the automatic deposits to PayPal are nice.  I will post a picture of my PayPal next Friday to see if this is legit or not.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

YouData.Com


While looking for more sites to review, I saw another blogger mention YouData.com.  It seems to be just a site where you watch targeted ads and get paid for it.  I will be looking into this site over the coming days and I will update you all on my findings.

As always, if anyone has experience with YouData please let me know in the comments below!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Case Closed: Superpoints.com

Superpoints.com Redemption Threshold by Membership Level

It is official, I am closing the case on Superpoints.com.  I was looking through the site when I stumbled on the picture you see above.  It seems at my current membership level, I can only cash out once I reach 2,500 points.  At the next level (Refer 2 Friends), I can cash out at 1,000 points.  If I refer 5 friends I can cash out at 500, which was my previous goal.  The reason I am closing the case is because requiring referrals is ridiculous and pointless.

I know that I can make fake email addresses and fake Superpoints accounts, I am not going to do that because it isn't worth my time just for $5.   I'll let the account sit and months from now collect all my lucky mails and see where that puts me, but I am putting no more effort into that site.  I can't say whether it is a scam or legit, but I am going to call it a scam regardless.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Stay At Home Mom


Ashley (my fiancee) mentioned the other day that she would like to start looking for a job 10 weeks after Tobias is born.  She would like to work 2nd shift so that I can be home with Tobias, but hopefully still have enough time to spend together.  While I would love to have a 2nd source of income, I don't want her to get burned out.

We got to talking about possible stay at home ideas.  We all look for ways to make money online in our free time, but what if you can dedicate 30-40 hours per week?  Many respectable companies, like Verizon, employ stay at home moms to field customer service phone calls.

We will be looking into various places to find work over the coming weeks and we will share with you our findings.  If anyone is aware of a good place to start looking, please let me know.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Update: Bing Rewards

Ashley's Bing rewards Search and Earn
 
My Bing rewards Search and Earn
 
In the Bing Rewards rules it states that multiple people in the same house can indeed earn rewards.  Ashley and I both have a Bing Rewards account and we earn our points each day.  Her account always seems to make more credits than mine does, so I looked into it.  She can earn up to 20 credits daily and I can only earn up to 10.  Also her daily rewards tend to be worth 1 more point than mine are.
 
Also on my account referral offers keep disappearing and reappearing with different values.  Microsoft must be restructuring this program. 
If you signed up for this program, let me know how many you can earn each day.  Also, if you have multiple people in your house get them to start earning you points.  I just cashed out 250 Microsoft points today and a friend of mine earns for me and is sending me 125 later on today.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Call to Arms: I Need Ideas!

This blog, while a big passion of mine, is very hard to write for.  I need new sites to try and the time to do so.  If anyone would like to suggest sites that they have had a good experience with or people that would like to write guest posts, I am down for that.

I will keep trying on my own to find new content and I will try to continue to update this blog daily.  I just don't want my readers to give up because I can't come up with new content.  I have 3 new sites that I need to look at in the coming days and I will post as soon as I have a chance to look into them.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

SwagBucks.com: Is it a Scam or Not?


I completely forgot about SwagBucks.com, I had tried them out a few years back and gave up.  I gave up because I moved and didn't have internet for awhile.  This is just like CashCrate or Superpoints in that they give you points for doing certain things.  I received a birthday email containing 50 SwagBucks which reminded me about the site.  I have left the account sit stale and it has 110 offers sitting in my email ready for me to bang out.  I currently have 134 SwagBucks and need 450 to get $5 from Amazon.

As always this site rewards for referrals so I have my referral link below.  I will update you all as I progress.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Case Closed: Project Payday

I was honestly going to give Project Payday a shot, I had read good reviews that I thought weren't biased.  I read through everything on the Project Payday site and started to grow more and more concerned.  I did a little research and found that Project Payday is CPA (or Cost Per Action) and that the owner of the site must be rolling in money at this point.  Once I reached the end of the info, Project Payday either wanted $34.95 or 1 TrialPay offer.  First off I avoid TrialPay by any means necessary.  Second if I am making the owner of the site money, why pay him to join?

I looked up some more reviews until I started to find some honest people that admitted that while you do make money on this site, it really isn't worth it.  Unless one of my readers talks me into it, I am closing the case on Project Payday.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Reinvesting Money Earned Online

There are an awful lot of people online trying to earn money everyday.  Everyone that I know starts with the get paid to sites such as MegaTypers, Superpoints, CashCrate, and the like.  Out of those people, most of them gave up when they didn't make much and quit trying.  A few people I know took the money from those things, blogs, and selling items on eBay and reinvested the money.  Those few people are the ones that I looked to when I started and said, "That's what I want to be."  Now those people are making a living on the internet and have quit there days jobs (except for one of them).  That one that didn't quit his day job is smart and he only works the minimum hours to get health insurance.

Now when I say reinvest this is where it can get a little foggy.  Some people take the money and buy items to resell on eBay and others went into stock trading.  Auctions and stocks can be some of the most difficult ways to make money.  eBay particularly because of the sheer amount of competition and stocks because of our economy.  One of my acquaintances did it right (in my opinion), he took the money that he made and bought a domain name and web hosting.  He created a site, referred to as a micro niche site, and sold eBooks. Basically he took a very specific subject that people are interested in and found someone that wrote an eBook on the subject.  He studied the eBook and the subject for awhile and then created an information site that answers the basic questions people would have.  He sold advertising space on the site and earned money from that and then he also earned money from the eBook sales.  Anyone that needed more information would buy the eBook.

This wasn't an overnight success and this certainly isn't the last the internet heard of him.  He did a lot of work to get traffic to his site and worked on it constantly.  When he started to make money from the site, he reinvested into a total of 5 more of these sites.  At any given time he has 5 active sites and up to 5 sites ready to go when something goes wrong. 

His income isn't anything to shake a stick at either, he is currently making a minimum of $45,000 yearly.  That number fluctuates, but he hasn't made less than that.  That is how much he needs to live comfortably and any additional money is reinvested into his "company".  In his eyes the greatest part of this is that he is making money on autopilot and doesn't have to do much work each day.  He is able to work 40 hours a week at his day job and still makes money while on vacation.  I can't say that everyone would succeed at this, but it is definitely something to think about.  I would like to get into something similar, but I just need to earn the capital before I start.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Project Payday


I haven't looked into this yet, but I have an iffy feeling about this one.  I think they pulled me in because they don't claim you are going to make thousands.  They are talking about making a little over $200 in the first month and never really making over $2500 a month.  I will take a look at this over the next few days and hopefully be able to provide a review for it.  If you would like to check it out for yourself, head over to:

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Update: Superpoints.com - Halfway There

I am halfway to cashing out for $5 on SuperPoints.  It doesn't even seem worth it, but I just want the money for peace of mind.  I am still having nothing but bad luck earning points with surveys.  I am just relying on LuckyMail and the Super Lucky Button to earn points now.  I am still looking for more sites to try and I will need some time to sit down and look into them.  Once I find something worthy of writing about I will post up an article.  I am still having great luck with Bing Rewards and I have earned around 800 points between Ashley and I.  I haven't spent them yet, but I am thinking about a Gamertag change.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Busy Day

My apologies, but I won't be able to write a post today.  I didn't have time to research anything over the weekend due to Ashley's baby shower.  I will do some research tonight and post an update tomorrow.  Thank you!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Update: Amazon Mechanical Turk


So I decided to do a little "turk-ing" last night and I figured I would test out how much I am really making per hour.  I picked a HIT that had a lot available and they each paid at 5 cents.  The only issue with this HIT was that it required more work than I'm used to for these types of HITs.  In 1 hour I did 125 of them and I was on a computer with 1 monitor which slowed me down a bit.  Today my account was updated and $6.25 was added to my account.  This surprisingly isn't too bad for working on the internet, now keep in mind that this is money that can only be used for shopping on Amazon.  

My only suggestion is that once you find something you are good at, stick with it and keep going.  There are jobs out there for people with specific skills that pay more money, but I haven't found anything within my skill set at this point.

I would be curious to know if any of my readers have tried this yet?

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Update: CashCrate.com


Well it seems that CashCrate.com may just be another one of the sites with a plethora of offers, but no real way to make consistent money.  I tried a couple of offers today and I will see where that takes me, but I have a feeling I will be giving up on this site completely.  It is another one of those refer people and make money sites and if you don't join in the beginning it is hard to make any money.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Update: MySurvey.com

It has been confirmed that MySurvey.com is no longer accepting U.S. residents, but as far as we know it is still accepting international users.  I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you, but I will try to keep an eye on the site and let you know if and when they start accepting U.S. residents again. 

If anyone has sites they would like to recommend for me to try, please leave them in the comments section below.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Update: MySurvey.com

I attempted to join MySurvey.com and found that they are not accepting new registrations.  I will look into this and update all of you once this is solved.  My apologies if that has inconvenienced you in any way.

Update: Superpoints.com

Current SuperPoints balance
 
So I have decided that I won't be completing any more offers or surveys for SuperPoints.  I get about 2 emails a day from them and every other one is a survey.  I have attempted 10 surveys all together and have never once been accepted to complete a survey.  I have also done offers to install games on my computer today (which are probably riddled with spyware) and I have never received the points.  I will not put anymore effort into this offer, but I will not close the case until I get my $5.  It might be awhile judging by how slowly I get points.  Also, I haven't won anything with the Super Lucky Button in days now.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Make Money on the Side, Easy - MySurvey.com

Incentivized surveys or online surveys as they are most commonly known have been a great way to boost ones income. These are usually done by websites that are given the task by companies to ask people of their opinions. Usually on a certain product or service that has or has yet to come out. Online surveys are VERY easy to do and are generally done in one’s free time. 

Online surveys are usually done by stay-at-home mums, students, the elderly and those willing to give their opinions. You get paid a small amount by some surveys, typically $0.50 - $2 at the most. But there are those companies that are willing to pay you more for the work that you put in - usually $2 - $4 more for the same amount of time.
The money that you receive is not what you would normally get through a nine to five work day but it’s certainly uplifting to know that your opinion is much sought after. Imagine that, people are willing to pay you for your opinion!
MySurvey is a worldwide group of consumers from all over who influence future products and services by volunteering to participate in consumer research.
I've used the Australian version of this online survey website and I can vouch for its efficacy. So far I've netted (not grossed) over $95 in over 3 months. Now I know that’s not a lot, but it has its perks. The points that you get can be converted to either;
  • PayPal cash; 
  • Facebook Credits;
  • Amazon e-certificates;
  • UNICEF
  • And much more!
What is interesting about this website is that they ask for your personal details once you’ve finished signing up. The thing is that they are surveys as well. Now, before you get hesitant you can rest assured that it is completely normal for them to ask you this – unlike others. Plus you get points immediately for giving your personal details.


Your home address, phone number, medical history, annual salary, etc. are required for them to direct you to more personalized surveys that match your lifestyle. So pretty much, the more you tell them about yourself the more likely you are to get surveys. Especially the bigger ones that ranges from $3 - $6.


All in all - try it out for yourself - it’s a good way to earn money on the side without it getting too hectic.
Other versions:

About Earl A.
Earl A. is founder and editor of Just a Thought and Epic Theatrical Music. Learn more about him here.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Blogger Community: Guest Writers and Followers

Today I was asked two questions that I thought I should share with you guys.  MyNameIsEarl asked if he could be a guest writer on my blog, the answer to him and everyone else is ... absolutely!  If anyone wants to provide content for my blog, I am very happy to accept that request.  The other question was sent in as an email, the person was letting me know that they are following my blog and asked if I would follow them too.  The answer might not be the same from all bloggers, but my answer is and always will be yes.  If you are willing to follow my blog (which by the way is a huge honor) then I will follow your blog.

Also, I take following very seriously.  I have all the blogs I follow bookmarked and I visit each blog every morning.  If there are no posts I close it and move to the next one.  If someone posted an article I read it and try to comment on the post.  The only exception is Saturdays and Sundays, I may not always check my blogs or your blogs on the weekend.  I feel that the people I follow and my followers are a community and I will do anything to make sure that the community is active and happy.

Again, I want to thank all of you for reading my blog(s) and joining in the discussion.  Thanks to all that have followed me and brought me to where I am now.  I enjoy blogging much more than I ever thought I would and seeing the page views go up everyday brings a smile to my face.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Update: Superpoints.com





In the last week I have received about 7 emails from Superpoints.com.  I currently have 88 points (88 cents) in my account.  Spinning the Superlucky button takes far too long and doesn't earn a whole lot.  I tried a survey and kept getting denied and finally completed one for 42 points.  My goal is to get 500 points and quit, then I will be able to cash out for $5 on Paypal.  Once I receive the $5 I will close the case on Superpoints.com.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Take It Offline

Everyday there are millions of people trying to make a living on the internet.  I'm sure a lot of my readers are in the same boat.  Sometimes staring at a computer screen day in and day out can get a little tiring.  The best thing to do when you are getting burned out is to, take it offline.  Take the drive, motivation, and energy that you use to make money online and bring it to the real world.  There are many things you can do to make a quick couple dollars.

  • Collect scrap metal, whether it be aluminum cans or copper wire there is money to be made on scrap.
  • Sell services on Craigslist; offer to rake leaves for a fee, offer to drive someone that has no vehicle, offer to haul away junk that might make you money.
  • Sell old/new stuff on Craigslist or eBay, I'm sure we all have some junk that is worth some money.  You know what they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."
  • Find part time jobs or gigs that are within your talents.  If you build, take pictures, sing/act, or have a technical skill there is always someone out there who needs you.
Yes, I know I said take it offline and then 2 of my items included being online.  The goods you are selling or the services you offer are offline and the time spent on the computer can be short.  If anyone wants to add anything leave it in the comments section below.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Update: Bing Rewards


I logged onto Bing Rewards today since my day has been reset, so that I can do a little more research for you guys.  This may vary by account, but I would need some input from others to confirm.  I am eligible for 13 credits a day.  3 credits for the daily offer (usually just click on a link and view information) and 10 credits for doing 20 searches on Bing.  This takes me 45 seconds to complete for the day.  Since I figured that for Microsoft Points, 1 credit is 1 penny, I will use that to calculate.  It is early for me, so bear with me if my calculations are a bit off.

In one hour there are 80 units of 45 seconds.  In 45 seconds I earned 13 credits (or .13 cents).  If I multiply .13 by 80 I get $10.40 per hour.  Surprisingly for an online gig this is a pretty high money vs time.  Now the part we all need to understand is to earn "1 hour of pay" you would need to do this 80 days straight.  This can really deter you from doing this offer, but when you think about it, how hard is it to get 45 seconds of each day to do this?  To cash in on 100 Microsoft Points we are looking at a little over 9 and a half days.

When you first sign up for the program there are quite a few extra offers, so the first 125 credits can be earned fairly quickly.  If you have 45 seconds of your day to spare, why don't you give it a shot?

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9778718&rrid=89C1F86E-6CB1-4E04-8ECB-C0888CB06622


Monday, February 20, 2012

Update: Bing Rewards

Just as an update, about 2 minutes after I submitted my redemption for Microsoft Points I received them.  This makes this particular offer even sweeter, as my only gripe was waiting a few weeks for an email with the redemption code.  I currently have 75 points left and when I get back to 125 I will update how long it took to redeem.

I just got one of the guys at work to start doing this offer and he mentioned that you can sell the points on ebay for about $0.99.  I am not sure of the legality of this, so I will not endorse this idea in any way.

Bing Rewards

Bing Logo
 
Offer valid for U.S. residents only, must provide a valid U.S. mailing address.
 
This isn't really a work from home, earn your living type offer, but more of a nice way to save money.  The whole premise of this program is that you use Bing to search, find deals, check the weather, and many other things.  You are given points for various tasks, usually things like search 20 times and get 10 points.  I use this program to get Microsoft Points for my Xbox 360, it is a nice way to shave a few bucks off of game purchases.  I have compiled a list of rewards  that my readers might be interested.

  • Free Redbox Rental - 99 credits
  • 100 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360 - 125 credits
  • $5 Groupon eGift Card - 523 credits
  • Xbox LIVE 1 Month Gold Membership - 999 credits
  • $2.50 Amazon.com Gift Card - 275 credits
  • $5 Amazon.com Gift Card - 525 credits
  • Hulu Plus 1-Month Subscription - 694 credits
So lets figure that 1600 Microsoft points retail for $19.99, and Bing Rewards gives them away for 125 credits. When purchased 80 points are worth $1,  or 1.25 cents each.  So for 125 credits you are receiving 100 Microsoft points, making the Bing Rewards points worth 1 cent each.  This makes sense because Bing is a Microsoft product, and obviously Microsoft points are as well meaning that Microsoft does not have to pay for these rewards.  

A Redbox rental is worth more that 99 cents so this is also a good deal.  As far as products from retailers such as Amazon are concerned, the rewards have a little extra tacked on, such as the $5 Amazon.com Gift Card.  The 5 dollars Amazon gift card is 525 credits, which means to us that we are "paying" an additional 25 cents to buy these rewards.

I have personally used this service over the last year and cashed out on around $32 worth of Microsoft Points, but I don't do it religiously everyday.  After my Xbox LIVE account was hacked, I stopped using it (About 6 months ago) and just started using it again on Saturday.  I currently have 200 points racked up and will be buying 100 Microsoft Points.  In the past, the points are emailed and I usually receive them within 2 weeks of redemption.

The time spent on Bing each day is around 2 minutes and my average points earned in 5 minutes is around 20 credits. Theoretically, this is around $6 dollars an hour even though it can't be earned consistently.  Sweepstakes are offered as well, but I don't do the whole luck thing.

This program also has a referral program that gives 25 credits for each 5 people referred.  As always, I will post my referral code below.  This program would also go great with Amazon Mechanical Turk in that you can earn money with MTurk and also use gift cards from Bing to shop on Amazon.com.
 
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9778718&rrid=89C1F86E-6CB1-4E04-8ECB-C0888CB06622

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Update #1 SuperPoints.com

2nd email in 2 days...

I have received 2 of these "SuperLucky Mails" since yesterday, the first one for 2 points and the second for 1.  It's kind of a cool idea, but it really seems like an annoyance.  Now, if I got a penny for every penny I've ever opened there would be an incentive.  I also received an email letting me know about some of the rewards available and about some people that have thousands of dollars in earnings.

I'm still on the fence about SuperPoints, but I do enjoy pressing that button everyday.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Start a Blog!

I would love to see some other people writing about these things.  So get out there and start a blog!  www.blogger.com has an easy interface and you can get to blogging in around 5 minutes.  You can follow other bloggers and start a community of people that read your blog and you read theirs.  I am currently writing on 3 blogs daily:

http://findonlinescams.blogspot.com
http://daddytobe2012.blogspot.com
http://wedding-weightloss.blogspot.com

I really enjoy having a place to share my thoughts and have people read them and respond.  If any of my readers start a blog, please follow me and let me know your address and I will return the favor.  If you need to get more traffic I am more than willing to allow guest writers on my blog to talk about the topic at hand.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Case Closed: MegaTypers.com

I am closing the case on Mega Typers.  This site requires far too much work just to make a tiny little bit of money.  Even with the referral system the limits are set way too high.  I can't see myself investing any more time or effort into this venture.  I will take the time saved to look into other sites.  I hope this helped all of my readers out there to make a decision on this site.  Any time you see make money solving captchas, don't waste your time.

Also, on the flip side I tried to decide a legitimate usage for this site.  The only thing I can come up with is that the company behind it is trying to run bots past captchas using humans to solve the codes.  I am not comfortable with that!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

SuperPoints.com



Yet another referral system way to make money online.  This one has all the usuals, but has the Super Lucky Button.  You get 5 spins at first and you can win credits, I believe 1 credit is 1 penny.  Then you complete some basic information and get more spins, after that you create an advanced profile and upload a picture.  Then you invite a few friends and you get more spins and the money they earn.  We will look into it and I will update you.  As always the referral link is below.

http://superpoints.com/refer/ryanlthornton

The Super Lucky Button

Amazon Mechanical Turk

MTurk.com Logo


I heard about Amazon's Mechanical Turk service while searching the web.  The idea of this site is that there are some jobs that computers cannot automate.  Things like copying business cards, accurate translations, and calling businesses to get e-mail addresses.  I spent approximately 10 minutes setting up my account and doing HITs (jobs) and then logged off.  I logged back in a few days later and found that I had a little over $3.00 in my account.  I figured I would jump on this weekend and make a little more.  Yesterday I was shopping for some cables on Amazon and found what I needed, I then proceeded to checkout and found that I could pay with my Amazon Payments account, which included the money from MTurk.  I was very pleased with this as there is no real waiting involved, and no minimum you need to earn.

I will keep working on this one and fill you all in on the details, my nice goal is to earn enough to buy an Xbox 360 game.  If I can use this just to fuel my gaming habit I will be happy!  The site to join and get started is www.MTurk.com.  Enjoy!

Monday, February 6, 2012

CashCrate.com



I will be looking into CashCrate.com as well.  My referral link is:
http://www.cashcrate.com/3513543
This site allows you to do offers, take surveys, watch videos, and refer other people to make money.

MegaTypers.com

MegaTypers.com Logo


The first site I will be looking into is MegaTypers.com.  This site has you solve Captchas and pays for every 1000 you complete.  This site has a referral program that allows you to make money from the people you refer.

When signing up for MegaTypers my referral code is: DDR

I will need to try this site for a little while before making a decision.  As far as I can tell this sites pays little money for a lot of work.  If you have any experience with this site, please let me know.

Money Making Scams

Hey!  My name is Ryan and I created this blog to help weed out all of the money making scams online.  We all see the scams every day, things like make $1,000 a day.  They seem great, but once you get in you find out that they are too good to be true.  I will try to post at least 1 site a week with my experiences.