I'm taking a break from posts about Autism because I've recently had a lot of friends and relatives ask me how I've made money from the internet. The beautiful thing about blogging is that I can answer all of those questions at once!
Let's be real here: I don't have time for a "job" right now. I'm not going to make a fortune in the few spare moments I have each day. But I have used the internet to make a bit of extra cash, and I'm going to go through a few things that I've tried. Some worked, some didn't. Some fizzled quickly, and I haven't been back since. All of us stay-at-home-moms are looking for small ways to supplement our income these days, which unfortunately makes us prey to scams. Here are a few "been there, done that" avenues:
Amazon Mechanical Turk- A couple of years ago, this was a great site. Essentially, people or companies post small tasks they need completed: reviews, surveys, transcription, etc. Just accept the jobs you want, and complete the task within the time limit.
After a few rather successful months on the site, (about $200 in 4 months, just spending a few minutes a day), I noticed that the offered payouts got smaller, and the amount of scam posts increased. While I used to find lots of $1.00 surveys or $6.00 transcription jobs, those gave way to two cent image tagging or "enter all of your personal information on our site to get paid" tasks. While there are still a lot of legitimate jobs, most of them aren't worth my time for the (literal) penny or two that I make. Still, I will cautiously recommend this site because occasionally, decent tasks can be found.
YouData- I was singing the praises of this site a year ago, but now it gets a big thumbs down. This "get paid to view ads" site was a great idea, and I made a few bucks in the beginning, but now the advertisers have apparently decided that they were marketing to us just fine without having to pay us for it. The ads have dried up almost completely, and although you get paid into your PayPal account every Friday, it's been a while since there has been any money to collect. Major bummer.
Survey sites- Apparently I am not anyone's key demographic. I joined half a dozen of the most popular survey sites, and in 3 months, I qualified for one survey. If you have had better luck, good for you, but I found these to be a complete waste of time.
Selling used items online- Craigslist is easy and far less work than a garage sale. People are usually willing to pay more than when they show up in your driveway, too. If you own a digital camera, you can upload pictures and create posts in a flash! I've sold clothes, toys, and old baby gear with a pretty decent return.
Ebay and Amazon are great options for a lot of people, but I personally don't have the time or ability with the kids to go to the post office several times a week to ship items.
Swagbucks- This is my current favorite, and I have their "Swidget" here on my site. Essentially, you can get points for all kinds of things (trading in old games or cell phones, filling out offers, etc.), but most of the points come from downloading and using their toolbar. Collect points (Swagbucks) and cash them in in the Swag Store. The best deal seems to be the Amazon gift cards: a $5 card for 450 points. Currently it only takes me about 2-3 weeks to rack up enough for a card, and in the last few months, I've made about $100 in Amazon gift cards.
Drawback: The search engine is powered by Google and Ask.com, but not as good. I sometimes find myself running a search through Google when Swagbucks doesn't give me the results I'm looking for. And if you're not online much or don't search frequently, you're not going to earn enough SB's.
So what have I learned from my mini-money-making ventures? There aren't many sites out there willing to pay you for a small amount of work. This shouldn't come as a big surprise. Telecommuting jobs are few and far between unless it's for a company you've already worked for and established contacts. So if you want to make money off of the internet, you need to be a little more innovative. Lots of people have sold their own products, or found a niche that needs to be filled in their community. I started making money about three years ago as a transcriptionist, since I used to be a legal secretary. I contacted online radio stations and made contact with web hosts willing to pay for occasional transcription services. I've worked for nutrition specialists, fitness gurus, and hypnotists. Some of these people are very well-known in their fields. I currently only have one client (my time is rather limited these days), typing up car insurance appraisals. The work is sporadic, but it's a bit of extra "play money", and they're a great group of people to work with. Even more important than the money is the feeling that I have something to do that does not involve cleaning or taking care of children. I never intended to be a stay at home mom for long, but having an Autistic child has drastically changed my priorities and plans for the future. Still, having something of my own is vital for my sanity, and this is exactly the outlet I need.
Have any other online money-making tips? Let us know!
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