Make Money Online Through Social Bookmarking
I post a lot of sites where you make money taking surveys and performing similar types of tasks. This is a little bit different. Today I am posting about social bookmarking.
Social bookmarking is probably something you already do on websites like Facebook, Digg, or Stumbleupon. On those sites you are sharing and exploring links that other people like. It’s a great way to promote and discover interesting content across the internet.
Now this is the fun part. There are social bookmarking sites out there where you can make money off of the content you are sharing. Most of these sites operate under the same model where they insert your Google Adsense ID into the page and you earn from the clicks on your ads.
What’s really nice about these sites is that you can promote your website, blog, or other online content and earn residual income. Residual income is great because you keep earning forever without doing any extra work. Even if you don’t have a website or don’t want to write content, you can still earn by linking to things you find around the web.
Here are the sites that I’ve found and my thoughts on each of them:
Xomba
Xomba is the first of these sites that I tried, and by far it is my favorite. It’s easy to use and receives a lot of traffic. I’ve gotten the most clicks to my blog and Adsense clicks from Xomba.
The way you use Xomba is you can either add bookmarks (with a 50 word summary) or write articles (minimum of 150 words). They run your ads 50% of the time, so you get 50% of the revenue from your content. Xomba also runs contests.
Xomba also has a referral program where you get 10% of your referrals’ ad revenue (this comes out of Xomba’s 5%). Yes, this is my referral link.
She Told Me
She Told Me was the second site I discovered. It is very similar to Xomba. The main difference is the site doesn’t feel like a community like Xomba does.
For whatever reason, the number of views I get from She Told Me does not show up in my Adsense stats, but I do occasionally get clicks from them, so my ads are show on the site, I just don’t know how often. I get more clicks from Xomba though. The amount of traffic I get from here is also not as much, but if you get on the front page (like I did briefly today) it’s certainly a traffic boost.
Like Xomba, you can post articles or bookmarks. Your Adsense ads are “displayed 100% of the time.” They also have a referral program, and you will have 1 ad displayed on their page at the bottom.
Infopirate
Infopirate is the exact same concept as the previous 2 sites. The main difference is this site seems to have less activity. I still get impressions and clicks from it though, so it is worth mentioning.
This site is only for sharing bookmarks, not publishing original content. On Infopirate, you earn 80% of the Adsense impressions. They have a referral program as well, and you earn 10% of your referrals impressions (this doesn’t effect their 80%).
AddBlogURL.com
AddBlogURL.com is a site I only recently discovered. I just signed up with it and haven’t used it much, so I can’t give it a proper review.
Basically it’s the same concept as the other sites: add links to items and you get 100% of the Adsense revenue. As far as I could tell, they don’t currently have a referral program.
YouSayToo
YouSayToo is different from the other sites I’ve featured. Instead of adding bookmarks, you earn by blogging, either by republishing your blog to their site via RSS or blogging on their site. I recently joined this site and don’t have any observations yet.
YouSayToo shares the ad impressions 50/50. Earnings can either be donated to a cause like fighting cancer or saving endangered animals, or you can enter your Google Adsense and/or Amazon affiliates ID to earn that way. If you already have a blog, this is a passive way to earn extra income and traffic, since it will automatically republish your posts via RSS.
You can also earn 15% of your referral’s Adsense impressions and 10% of their referrals. Here is my referral link.
Tagfoot
Tagfoot is a different beast that these other sites. It’s more of a community and it’s more moderated than the other sites.
You have to earn your right to earn from Adsense sharing by being active in the community. Self promotion is frowned upon, so this is more for legit linking and socializing, and not promoting your own content. Your ads are displayed 50% of the time. If you refer a friend to join, then you earn 25% of their ad impressions (they still get 50%).
I’ve been using it for a little while and plan to eventually earn Adsense sharing on there. I haven’t gotten there yet, but as soon as I do I will follow up with my experiences earning from Tagfoot.
Redgage
Redgage is a site that pays you for views on content you upload to their website. This includes blogs, photos, videos, documents, and links. When you reach $25 in earnings, you can withdraw your funds, but only to their pre-paid Visa debit card. There is a $5 fee the first time you withdraw and then a percentage of the amount each time after that.
I signed up for the site and uploaded one bookmark and everything seemed pretty easy and straightforward. I probably won’t be using this site any further though, just because I don’t like that you can only get your funds through their debit card.
Happy Earth Day! Save Money Being Green!
It’s Earth Day today, which is a great day to remind us to try and live greener lives. This is good because being green and eco-friendly can actually save you money!
A lot of people think you have to spend a lot of money being green, which may be the case for things like installing solar panels or replacing appliances with energy efficient counterparts, but there are many simple things you can do that save money and are good for the planet.
Ready to do your part? Here are just a few easy tips:
Shop At Thrift Stores & Resale Shops
Shopping at resale shops is a great way to help other people recycle their stuff and get new to you clothes, accessories, books, and more for a steal! Plus, it’s fun to dig around at a Thrift shop and see what interesting things you discover. Make sure to donate your unwanted items as well (and get a receipt for the tax write off!). This cycle keeps perfectly good items out of the landfill and puts them to good use again.
Bring Your Own Water Bottle
Drinking lots of water is good for you. Buying bottled water is not. And most bottled water is just tap water anyway. Cut out the middle man, save the petroleum used to transport and bottle the water and just carry your own reusable water bottle. Get a snazzy stainless steel
Grow Your Own Veggie’s and Herbs
Gardening is a fun active hobby. It can save you money in the long run by reducing the amount of produce and fresh/dried herbs you buy at the grocery store. That in turn helps the planet by reducing the carbon footprint of transporting those foods from the farm to your store. Even if you don’t have a yard to garden in, patio and container gardening are a great option for apartment and city dwellers.
Save Leftovers
Unless there was a cooking fiasco, save your leftovers! Then make sure to eat them! By doing this you make sure no food goes to waste. This can save you time and energy since you won’t have to cook a future meal from scratch. Take the leftovers for lunch the next day: you’ll save money eating in instead of going out to eat.
Pay Bills Online
Almost every bill you have–credit card, electricity, cell phone, cable, even those pesky student loans–can be paid online. This saves you the cost of the stamp, which can really add up over the years. Elect to receive your bills via email and help the planet even more by getting rid of the paper version of your bills.
Use Reusable Cleaning Products
Makes rags or buy reusable cloths for Swiffer sweepers and mops. This saves you money that would be spent on sponges or paper towels.
While You’re At It, Get Rid of the Paper Towels
Even if you’re not ready to take the plunge and get rid of paper towels completely, you can seriously decrease you consumption by using cloth napkins and rags. This saves you money and saves trees.
Make Money Recycling Your Gadgets or Books
I’m going to guess that most 20 somethings have old cell phones, mp3 players, digital cameras, and other electronic gadgets lying around. You know, things you iPhone replaced. Well instead of tossing them out or leaving them to gather dust in a drawer somewhere, you can these items and even get cash for them. And those best sellers you read years ago or your Mom bought you for your birthday even though you hate the genre: sell those too, and give them a second chance. Those textbooks from college that you know you’ll never read again are great candidates for this.
Have any other tips on how to save money and be eco-friendly? Share them in the comments!
Looking for Earth Day freebies or deals? Check out the posts at The Thrifty Mama and Common Sense With Money.
Follow-up Review: Knowledge Panel is a Legit Survey Site
Last September, I posted about how I received $2 in the mail from Knowledge Networks and an invitation to join their panel. At the time I didn’t know anything about Knowledge Panel, but a quick Google search seemed to indicate they were pretty benign.
Since then, I’ve seen a few people coming to the site by searching for whether or not Knowledge Panel is a scam, so I figured I should to an update post about my experiences.
No, it’s not a scam. They are a legitimate survey site. Since September I’ve received 2 checks from them and overall have been very happy with my experience with them. Their surveys are a little different–instead of being about particular products or companies, they’re usually about things like political and personal views, or my habits and interests as a person.
Since their sign-ups aren’t open to all (your household must be selected and receive a letter from them), I won’t go into the sign up process. Their process is pretty typical for survey sites though.
If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask in the comments or by email, and I’m more than happy to answer them.
Knowledge Panel Stats
Info Required to Sign Up: They ask the usual questions survey sites need: Name, age, address, etc.
Member eligibility requirements: Your household must be selected
How money/points are earned: If you already have Internet in your home, you will receive points for each survey, which can be redeemed for cash or spent on sweepstakes entries. If you don’t have internet, they will provide you with internet service for as long as you remain active in the panel.
Value of survey: Each survey is usually worth 1000 points.
Earnings for disqualified survey: From my experience, you still get your points, unless the survey has closed.
Redemption options: Internet service, cash, or sweepstakes entries.
Fees or rules for redemption: No fees. Must have 25000 points to redeem for a check.
Time redemption takes: In my experience, it’s been a week or less.
Cash value of points: 1000 points = $1
What’s New With Swagbucks?
If you use Swagbucks, you’re probably already aware of some of the changes to the site which they introduced last week.
Since these changes are pretty significant in terms of earning and redeeming, I figured I better do an update post for those of you who are interested in joining Swagbucks.
Basically the change is that what used to be 1 Swagbucks now is 10 Swagbucks. The cost for all the prizes has been multiplied by 10 as well.
They’ve also added a few ways to get additional Swagbucks each day. You can view special offers for 2-3 Swagbucks each day, and the toolbar also features Swagbucks each day.
I’m not very excited about these changes, but I can’t complain much considering how many Amazon gift cards I’ve gotten from them for free. It just seems a little bit more difficult to earn the same value of Swagbucks now.
Here’s the updated Stats:
Swagbucks Stats
Info Required to Sign Up: Full Name, Email, Country, State, Zip, Year of Birth.
Sign up bonuses: 30 Swagbucks
How money/points are earned: Searching the Web, Completing Special Offers, Shopping, Trading In Cell Phones, Ipods, & Video Games, Referrals
Value of action: Varies. Swagbucks are awarded at random for searches, usually at values between 10-50. For shopping, 2 Swagbuck for every $1 spent at select merchants.
Redemption options: A variety of prizes. Gift cards (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc). Paypal.
Fees or rules for redemption: None–just have the amount the item costs.
Time redemption takes: Shipping estimate is given for all physical prizes ordered. E-gift cards arrived within 15 business days. Amazon gift cards post on the 16th & 20th of each month.
Cash value of points: Depends on Redemption method. Examples: Paypal: 10SB = $0.01. Amazon.com: 10SB = $0.01. Zendoo.com: 10SB = $1
Read my original Swagbucks post.
Make Money Online: Answer Text Questions for ChaCha
ChaCha is hiring. What is ChaCha? Well, it’s similar to KGB. Basically it’s a service that answers questions it’s users ask through text message, and pays people to work from home answering these questions.
They are currently hiring for guides, and have four different roles: Expediters (rewrite and categorize incoming questions), Generalists (answer any type of question), Specialists (answers questions in specific categories), and Transcribers (transcribe audio questions).
To sign-up you must fill out some general info (name, address, etc) plus your education level, internet speed, and how many hours you can work. Then you watch a little video about the site, and then you’re required to fill out a W-9 form before you continue (including your SSN).
Next, they send out an email with a link. They ask you to select a guide role, though when I did it, they only offered the Expediter role, so I assume that’s the role they make everyone start with. After that there’s a timed compatibility assessment, and if you pass you can start orientation and training.
This is a contract position, but unlike KGB, you do not have to schedule shifts, you can just jump on whenever you feel like it. It seems like a convenient way to make some extra money online.
From what I can gather reading on their website and other people’s reviews (I did not finish signing up), they don’t pay per question, but instead give you points based on a number of factors (how busy it is, the complexity of your role or the questions, etc.). At the end of the month, those points convert to cash, based on how many points everyone else has. You can cash out when you’re receive $100 or sign-up for a debit card to use your money sooner.
Seems a little fishy to me, and I’ve read reviews praising and scolding Cha Cha, so I’ll leave it up to you to see if it’s worth your time. Comparing this with KGB, I think KGB is the better choice, simply because KGB is straightforward about the amount of money you’re making, and you’re paid monthly.
ChaCha Stats
Info Required to Sign Up: Name, address, birth date, phone number, email, education level, info to fill out W-9 (including SSN)
Member eligibility requirements: 18+ years old, fluent in English, U.S. mailing address, authorized to work in the U.S., high-speed Internet connection
Sign up bonuses: None
How points are earned: Answering questions, transcribing questions, rewriting and categorizing questions.
Value of action: Unable to determine
Redemption options: Money
Fees or rules for redemption: Paid once you reach $100 or you can get their special debit card to access money earlier.
Cash value of points: Based on percentage of monthly cash pool.
Worked for KGB or ChaCha? I’d love to hear about your experiences. Feel free to share them in the comments below, or email me.
Make Money Online: Answer Text Questions for KGB
This is a new opportunity I found out about about two weeks ago from Champagne Living, and I decided to check it out since I’ve been basically unemployed and underemployed for the past year.
You may have heard of KGB through some of their humorous commercials. I was only vaguely aware of the company when I found out about this opportunity. KGB stands for Knowledge Generation Bureau, and they claim to be the world’s largest independent provider of directory assistance and enhanced information services.
Basically, anyone with a cell phone and text messaging can text them a question and they’ll answer it. This can be for directory assistance, driving directions, trivia questions, whatever.
Currently, KGB is hiring Special Agents. These are individuals who, working from their home computer, provide answers to these questions that are sent in by KGB customers.
Requirements:
- Must be at least eighteen (18) years of age
- Must have a U.S. Social Security number or other taxpayer ID number
- Must agree to work as an Independent Contractor
- Cannot already be employed by kgb or any of its subsidiaries
- Must have access to a computer with a high-speed internet connection and Mozilla Firefox web browser
- Must provide a U.S. bank account for direct deposit
- Must have a U.S. mailing address.
Agents can work anytime, 24 hours a day, that’s convenient for them. The minimum amount of work required is 8 hours per month (about 2 hours per week). Pay is per question answered, 10 cents for full responses and 5 cents for validation responses pulled from the database. Pay is monthly, and it is a contract position.
More information about the position is available via the job description.
From what I know now, I would recommend this as mainly supplemental income: something perfect as a part time job for students or moms, or to help make ends meet during this tough economic times. I don’t think it would be a suitable replacement for a steady full time job. This is a great work from home opportunity though.
How to Apply
There are a couple steps to becoming a Special Agent with KGB. First you have to take the Special Agents Challenge, which is a series of different questions in different categories. You can take the challenge for fun and as many times as you need to pass.
Once you pass that, you’ll be invited to complete some training, and a simulation of the questions you’ll be handling as an agent. After that, you’ll take Certification test. If you pass, you’ll be offered a position. If you fail, then, well, this opportunity just isn’t for you.
Depending on how much free time you have, this process could take a few days or about two weeks–they do put a limit on how long you can spending doing each step of the process.
They are hiring now, so if this seems like something you’d be interested in, apply now, before this opportunity disapears.
Make Money Online: Instant Cash Sweepstakes UPDATE
All right everyone, the first time I posted about Instant Cash Sweepstakes I’d only been a member of the site for about two weeks, and I wasn’t particularly impressed with it at the time. Since I’d only had limited experience with the site, I promised to give it more time and then come back with an update. Well, here it is.
Honestly, I stopped visiting Instant Cash Sweepstakes for the most part a week or so afterward. I racked up coins and lottery tickets, but never earned anymore money. I started to feel like maybe this is was the kind of site where you could only earn money if you convince a lot of people to sign up via your referral link (yes that link above is a referral link). At this point I have no referrals, which isn’t surprising, because I haven’t exactly given the site the most outstanding reviews. With all of the other survey sites and money making sites out there, I could earn actual money, not just sweepstakes entries, in the time I was wasting filling out those little surveys.
So what changes have I noticed since my last visit about two months ago? Not much. The coin store is still sparsely populated with ten high priced items (including that bizarre box of Splenda, which costs more than the 8gb jump drive). Apparently at the beginning of the month they decided to change their sweepstakes format, instead of one big prize each week, they’re doing a daily prize of $50, and if your referral wins it, you win it too.
What are my earnings at this point? Well, I’m still stuck at 75 cents. I have 389 coins, and 154 tickets for the lottery drawing today. Keep in mind I haven’t used the site for like a month and a half, but still, not impressive.
So overall, I think I’m mostly done with Instant Cash Sweepstakes. I think I’ll probably still check in from time to time just to see what’s going on and if they’ve done anything new. They still call themselves “beta” and seem to incorporate the ideas of the users, so it’s possible they’ll transform into a great site yet. I’ll keep you updated if they do, but for now I have other things I’d like to spend my time on.
Make Some Extra Cash: Global Test Market Surveys
Let’s kick off the new week with a new website to make some extra money. Today I’m featuring a survey site called GlobalTestMarket. I’ve been a member of this panel for many years, and it’s been a positive experience. I’ve earned money from this site and have been paid a few times.
It’s pretty basic: you sign up, fill out a few profile surveys, and then you’ll receive email invitation for the surveys. Each email will include how many points the survey is worth. When you complete the survey, the points are instantly credited to your account. If you don’t qualify to complete the survey, then you may receive points (they used to give 5 points if you disqualified, but they seem to have mostly phased that out), sweepstakes entries, or just a thank-you screen.
One of the downsides is that it takes a little while to earn enough points to cash out, simply because the minimum cash-out amount is 1000 points, which equals $50. On the other hand, it’s nice to get such a large check in the mail. My first check was $63, which bought two weeks of groceries for me, so it was worth the wait. You just have to plan to be with the panel for the long term.
Personally, I’ve had no problems with Global Test Market. The surveys are fun and interesting and I’ve always received my credits immediately. Payment does take a few weeks, but the checks always come within the time frame. If you are interested in making money taking online surveys, then I definitely recommend GlobalTestMarket.
This panel is open to members around the world, so even if you’re not from the US you can sign up.
GlobalTestMarket Stats
Info Required to Sign Up: Birth date, email, first & last name, address, phone number
Member eligibility requirements: 18 years or older, or 14-17 with parent’s permission
Sign up bonuses: None
How points are earned: Taking surveys
Value of survey: Varies, anywhere between 5-50 points
Earnings for disqualified survey: Points, sweepstakes entries, or nothing (depends on the study)
Redemption options: Check
Fees or rules for redemption: Mi0nimum 1000 MarketPoints ($50)
Time redemption takes: 4-6 weeks if in the US
Cash value of points: 1 MarketPoint = 5 cents
Make Money Online: Instant Cash Sweepstakes
Today I’m posting about a site very different from the other money making sites I’ve blogged about previously.
I’ve been a member of Instant Cash Sweepstakes for about 2 weeks. So far I’m not very impressed with the payout in comparison to the amount of time spent on the site, but it could be far worse.
Basically, how the site works is you answer a series of three questions, these are either user submitted questions or “BIZ” surveys from sponsors (which is how they make the money that the prizes come from). When you submit your answers you win a prize, either cash, lottery tickets for the next drawing, or coins. At a minimum, you will get 1 ticket and 1 coin.
You’re allowed to do five sets of questions every 3 hours. There is an option to sign up for email reminders to let you know when you can play again. Sometimes you’ll get a repeat question set–this is to test whether or not you’re giving honest answers. If you match the answers you originally put, they will triple your winnings (you have to match all 3 answers).
Cash winnings are paid via Paypal. There is a minimum of $2 winnings before you can cash out. The coins were added the day after I signed up. Basically you rack up the points and then you can redeem them in the Bonus Store. This is all very new, so we’ll have to see how it plays out. Currently the prize selection looks like they just picked a bunch of items from around their office (a corkscrew, a box of Splenda…), but slowly they’re adding new items each day. Right now the cheapest item is an 8 GB HP Flash drive, which costs 28,975 coins.
In my two weeks on the site, I have earned $0.75 cents and 182 coins. The 0.75 came from winning cash once. The drawings that the lottery tickets go for happen weekly, and I haven’t won anything from that yet either. Of course, I’ve only been a member for two weeks. I will keep using the site and update on any new winnings and my thoughts after using it for awhile. (You can now read my update here).
So here’s the ICS widget, which you can try out to get a sample of what the questions are like and how the game works. The ICS Stats are below it.
Instant Cash Sweepstakes Stats
Info Required to Sign Up: Email, First Name, Initial of Last Name, Birth date, Gender, State, County, Zip, Paypal Email, Statistical questions (education, employment, race, etc)
Member eligibility requirements: Minimum 18 years old, US Resident
Sign up bonuses: None
How money/tickets/coins are earned: Answering 3 questions to win a “prize,” either cash, tickets, or coins. Minimum 1 ticket and 1 coin each time.
Redemption options: Cash is via Paypal only. Coins can be traded in for prizes.
Fees or rules for redemption: No fees. Minimum $2 to cash out.
Time redemption takes: 72 hours to receive Paypal payment after request.
Cash value of coins: Unable to determine at this time
Check out my update post after two months with Instant Cash Sweepstakes.
Just got a surprise $2 in the mail from Knowledge Networks
Today was an exciting day at the mailbox. I got a 25 gift card for Amazon.com from Mypoints. I also received a sample of Kashi’s new Honey Sunshine cereal which came with a coupon I will be using to get 4 boxes of Kashi cereal for 50 cents at Jewel. Add in two movies from my Netflix queue, and that alone makes a fun day.
There was also a huge first class envelope from Knowledge Networks, which I have never heard of. It was addressed to the current residents, so I opened it up and was surprised to be greeted by two 1 dollar bills.
It turns out Knowledge Panel is a US-based research company. They’re currently doing a national recruitment campaign where they’re randomly selecting addresses and inviting people to join the panel. We were one of the households selected! With the $2 cash up front, they’ve definitely got my attention, and I’m signing up for their panel today.
Unfortunately, you can only sign-up for the panel if your household is selected and sent a letter. If you get a big first class envelope from Knowledge Networks, make sure to open it! Even if you’re not interested in the panel, there’s 2 bucks inside, and free money should not go to waste.
Has anyone ever been a part of the KnowledgePanel? I’m interested in hearing about your experiences.
