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Hello beginners!
A year ago I was just like yourselves - aware that the internet could offer money making opportunities but not really sure how to capitalise on them. I spent my first few weeks feeling around in the dark, signing up for 100s of sites that promised to make me money but in reality they required me to click on links, view adverts or fill out mind numbingly boring surveys for often a few pence at best!
That's when I stumbled across the money shed through a reference on @katykicker s blog. Using @Jon s excellent earning money for beginners toolkit as my bible I was able to pick out the bits that worked for me and leave the bits that didn't.
Anyway I've written below a few tips based on my experiences to add on to this. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have either in the comments below or via message if you'd prefer.
First things first - get a smartphone with a lot of data allowance and a portable charger. You're going to need it! And don't worry about the cost of the initial investment in it - I promise you'll soon make it back. I have a Samsung S6 that copes adequately with everything thrown at it - you can pick one up on ebay with a warranty for about £100.
As Jon says in his beginner's toolkit access to a laptop or desktop computer is also vital - it doesn't have to be the latest tech but I'd recommend investing your first £300 in one if you can! I would also suggest getting a multifunctional scanner/printer as well - my method of getting this was to complete enough boring surveys until I had sufficient amazon vouchers earned to pay for one - there was a cashback deal on mine as well so I got a printer and money (pay attention to amazon's daily deals page and you'll be surprised at what you can find!).
Ok. So now you've got the equipment but where do you start? Below is a recount of my experiences and the sites I find that pay the most.
1. Paid to click sites (e.g. clixsense) - unless you have a large following of people you can refer to these sites I wouldn't bother. The amount of time you spend clicking through things for little reward is insane. There are better ways to earn money. Of course if you have a large number of people you can refer to them then do it - there are many people who earn a decent amount through referrals but my advice is if you're just starting out don't bother with these! I also include inbox pounds and swagbucks in these categories - there are people who swear by these sites but I think they're too low paying for the amount of effort required.
2. Paid survey sites - there are loads of these about! Many people earn referral bonuses for persuading people to sign up to sites but the truth is a lot of them are very boring and pay a pittance. I've signed up for dozens of sites but the only ones I find worthwhile are the following!
a. Populus live - actually pays you a decent amount for completing surveys and as long as you do the surveys quickly enough screen outs (where you get part way through a survey and then it chucks you out as there's enough people in your demographic who've already completed the survey, having nicely wasted your time) are rare and also happen very quickly at the start of the survey. Notifications of surveys are sent by email so make sure you have your email account set up to push notifications to your phone so that you can complete the survey asap. Cash out is at £50 which sounds high but I tend to get through £20-£25 a month on this site so it's good for more than a couple of hundred pounds a year.
b. Prolific academic - this site is brilliant. I've only been screened out twice and on one of those occasions it was because I hadn't read the instructions properly. The surveys tend to pay well but I would suggest getting a circle account (prolific can help you with this) to receive payments and cashing out only when you've hit £20 as although you can get paid into paypal they take commision on your payments. Circle don't! Surveys tend to be around some interesting subjects as well. I tend to earn £20 every two weeks from this site so about £40 a month. I'd also recommend keeping your computer on and setting it to auto-refresh on prolific so that you get to spot surveys as soon as they appear as spaces are limited!
c. Panelbase - this is one of the mind numbingly boring survey sites that I normally ignore. However, I include it as a recommendation for two reasons. Firstly the surveys tell you in pounds and pence how much you're getting paid for completing them so you know what a pittance you're earning, rather than using some seemingly random points system. Secondly they pay direct into your bank account so there's no messing about with paypal or amazon vouchers. Because I find it a bit boring I only tend to take £10 a month from this site, however when I was using it more regularly I was earning £25 a month from this site.
d. Pinecone research - a lot of people swear by this site. I can attest that it offers a reasonable rate of pay (in line with populus), however I don't get many surveys from pinecone. It's worth about £6 a month to me but others in different demographic groups e.g. with kids may earn far more.
e. Mintvine (now known as Branded Surveys) - I was in two minds about whether to include this or not. I don't find the surveys that interesting and sometimes the rewards are poor, however I do like the fact that it offers a daily poll which gives you points and on some surveys if you get screened out you can earn points. Like Panelbase it's one I don't use that often. With a determined effort I can clear £10 a month from this site.
So that's surveys (there are other ones you'll hear about which I'm happy to share my experiences with but wanted to pick my top 5 for you!).
From those 5 sites alone I earn a minimum of £85 a month. More if I put some effort in! With a bit of effort I think it's fair to say that £100 a month is achievable.
3. Smartphone apps - I love my smartphone. It's a device that exists purely to make me money! I have several apps on my phone that pay for me my opinon, to do mystery shopping or store audits. The top apps I have are as follows:
a. BeMyEye) - iphone and androdid app app that offers money for things like mystery shopping, market research, billboard checks and store audits. Some of the tasks can seem a bit daunting at first but if you look at the task360 thread in the earning money online forum there's plenty of hints and tips there to help out. I'm lucky that there's not many (if any) users near me so this app gives me £50 a month. It updates daily so it's worth checking a couple of times a day at least. Pays via paypal or into your bank account.
b. Field agent - this was quiet for months with no tasks on it at all. However, recently it's picked up and I had £20 of tasks from it last month (I'm lucky enough to live a few minutes walk from a supermarket). I can't say if this trend will continue but if it does start picking up then this could be a nice little earner. Now offers payment into bank accounts which is good.
c. Roamler - similar to the above two this offers money for performing mystery shops or store audits. I'm lazy so I don't do all of the tasks it offers in my area but if I did I could be looking at over a £100 a month. Cashout is via paypal, commision is charged on anything less than £20 though so don't withdraw until you hit £20! I tend to go for £20 a month on this one (I usually have a roamler day where i pick up work in the area to hit this and combine it with tasks from other apps or work for mystery shopping companies).
d.Streetspotr - similar to the others but there's a lot of fast food checks on this app. I hate doing the fast food checks so tend to avoid them. If I didn't it'd be good for £30 a month. As it is I tend to get £10 a month from it.
e. Easyshift - a relatively new player to the UK these guys are quite big in the US. Tasks on here so far have consisted wondering around stores and taking photos of beer displays and beauty products. This can involve a lot of photos which are hard to do covertly so I'd only reccomend signing up to this one after you've built up a good level of experience with some of the eother apps.
Special mention goes to appjobber, clic and walk and streetbees. All 3 pay into paypal and jobs are few and far between on them where I am. However, worth keeping these apps as often jobs can be in the same locations as tasks you're performing on other apps or somewhere that you're doing a mystery shop. I'd say these give me £10 a month if averaged over the year.
So just using the above apps (and not including field agent as it's only recently picked up) there's another £100 a month (makes the price of that smartphone a bit more palatable now!).
Other apps of note I use are the following:
Voxpopme - gives money for doing surveys using your smartphone camera - gives £0.25p for about a minutes time - I tend to get through a couple of surveys a week so its £4 a month for less than 10 minutes work (not bad when you think of it like that!).
Ipoll - gives quick surveys on the phone which are low paying but quick to complete when you have a spare minute. The same goes for surveybods and onepulse. With dedication, you can get an easy £10 a month from these apps.
Vypr - I really like this app. Basically, you get paid money for looking at pictures of food! It pays a pittance to be honest (someone did the maths and it was pretty depressing) but it's good fun and can be used while you're doing your supermarket shop. With dedication, you can get £20 a month from this. I tend to earn £10 - £15 a month from it which is quite dedicated by my standards!
So there's at least another £25 a month for you. But where does the rest come from? Find out in part 2! (which is just below)
A year ago I was just like yourselves - aware that the internet could offer money making opportunities but not really sure how to capitalise on them. I spent my first few weeks feeling around in the dark, signing up for 100s of sites that promised to make me money but in reality they required me to click on links, view adverts or fill out mind numbingly boring surveys for often a few pence at best!
That's when I stumbled across the money shed through a reference on @katykicker s blog. Using @Jon s excellent earning money for beginners toolkit as my bible I was able to pick out the bits that worked for me and leave the bits that didn't.
Anyway I've written below a few tips based on my experiences to add on to this. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have either in the comments below or via message if you'd prefer.
First things first - get a smartphone with a lot of data allowance and a portable charger. You're going to need it! And don't worry about the cost of the initial investment in it - I promise you'll soon make it back. I have a Samsung S6 that copes adequately with everything thrown at it - you can pick one up on ebay with a warranty for about £100.
As Jon says in his beginner's toolkit access to a laptop or desktop computer is also vital - it doesn't have to be the latest tech but I'd recommend investing your first £300 in one if you can! I would also suggest getting a multifunctional scanner/printer as well - my method of getting this was to complete enough boring surveys until I had sufficient amazon vouchers earned to pay for one - there was a cashback deal on mine as well so I got a printer and money (pay attention to amazon's daily deals page and you'll be surprised at what you can find!).
Ok. So now you've got the equipment but where do you start? Below is a recount of my experiences and the sites I find that pay the most.
1. Paid to click sites (e.g. clixsense) - unless you have a large following of people you can refer to these sites I wouldn't bother. The amount of time you spend clicking through things for little reward is insane. There are better ways to earn money. Of course if you have a large number of people you can refer to them then do it - there are many people who earn a decent amount through referrals but my advice is if you're just starting out don't bother with these! I also include inbox pounds and swagbucks in these categories - there are people who swear by these sites but I think they're too low paying for the amount of effort required.
2. Paid survey sites - there are loads of these about! Many people earn referral bonuses for persuading people to sign up to sites but the truth is a lot of them are very boring and pay a pittance. I've signed up for dozens of sites but the only ones I find worthwhile are the following!
a. Populus live - actually pays you a decent amount for completing surveys and as long as you do the surveys quickly enough screen outs (where you get part way through a survey and then it chucks you out as there's enough people in your demographic who've already completed the survey, having nicely wasted your time) are rare and also happen very quickly at the start of the survey. Notifications of surveys are sent by email so make sure you have your email account set up to push notifications to your phone so that you can complete the survey asap. Cash out is at £50 which sounds high but I tend to get through £20-£25 a month on this site so it's good for more than a couple of hundred pounds a year.
b. Prolific academic - this site is brilliant. I've only been screened out twice and on one of those occasions it was because I hadn't read the instructions properly. The surveys tend to pay well but I would suggest getting a circle account (prolific can help you with this) to receive payments and cashing out only when you've hit £20 as although you can get paid into paypal they take commision on your payments. Circle don't! Surveys tend to be around some interesting subjects as well. I tend to earn £20 every two weeks from this site so about £40 a month. I'd also recommend keeping your computer on and setting it to auto-refresh on prolific so that you get to spot surveys as soon as they appear as spaces are limited!
c. Panelbase - this is one of the mind numbingly boring survey sites that I normally ignore. However, I include it as a recommendation for two reasons. Firstly the surveys tell you in pounds and pence how much you're getting paid for completing them so you know what a pittance you're earning, rather than using some seemingly random points system. Secondly they pay direct into your bank account so there's no messing about with paypal or amazon vouchers. Because I find it a bit boring I only tend to take £10 a month from this site, however when I was using it more regularly I was earning £25 a month from this site.
d. Pinecone research - a lot of people swear by this site. I can attest that it offers a reasonable rate of pay (in line with populus), however I don't get many surveys from pinecone. It's worth about £6 a month to me but others in different demographic groups e.g. with kids may earn far more.
e. Mintvine (now known as Branded Surveys) - I was in two minds about whether to include this or not. I don't find the surveys that interesting and sometimes the rewards are poor, however I do like the fact that it offers a daily poll which gives you points and on some surveys if you get screened out you can earn points. Like Panelbase it's one I don't use that often. With a determined effort I can clear £10 a month from this site.
So that's surveys (there are other ones you'll hear about which I'm happy to share my experiences with but wanted to pick my top 5 for you!).
From those 5 sites alone I earn a minimum of £85 a month. More if I put some effort in! With a bit of effort I think it's fair to say that £100 a month is achievable.
3. Smartphone apps - I love my smartphone. It's a device that exists purely to make me money! I have several apps on my phone that pay for me my opinon, to do mystery shopping or store audits. The top apps I have are as follows:
a. BeMyEye) - iphone and androdid app app that offers money for things like mystery shopping, market research, billboard checks and store audits. Some of the tasks can seem a bit daunting at first but if you look at the task360 thread in the earning money online forum there's plenty of hints and tips there to help out. I'm lucky that there's not many (if any) users near me so this app gives me £50 a month. It updates daily so it's worth checking a couple of times a day at least. Pays via paypal or into your bank account.
b. Field agent - this was quiet for months with no tasks on it at all. However, recently it's picked up and I had £20 of tasks from it last month (I'm lucky enough to live a few minutes walk from a supermarket). I can't say if this trend will continue but if it does start picking up then this could be a nice little earner. Now offers payment into bank accounts which is good.
c. Roamler - similar to the above two this offers money for performing mystery shops or store audits. I'm lazy so I don't do all of the tasks it offers in my area but if I did I could be looking at over a £100 a month. Cashout is via paypal, commision is charged on anything less than £20 though so don't withdraw until you hit £20! I tend to go for £20 a month on this one (I usually have a roamler day where i pick up work in the area to hit this and combine it with tasks from other apps or work for mystery shopping companies).
d.Streetspotr - similar to the others but there's a lot of fast food checks on this app. I hate doing the fast food checks so tend to avoid them. If I didn't it'd be good for £30 a month. As it is I tend to get £10 a month from it.
e. Easyshift - a relatively new player to the UK these guys are quite big in the US. Tasks on here so far have consisted wondering around stores and taking photos of beer displays and beauty products. This can involve a lot of photos which are hard to do covertly so I'd only reccomend signing up to this one after you've built up a good level of experience with some of the eother apps.
Special mention goes to appjobber, clic and walk and streetbees. All 3 pay into paypal and jobs are few and far between on them where I am. However, worth keeping these apps as often jobs can be in the same locations as tasks you're performing on other apps or somewhere that you're doing a mystery shop. I'd say these give me £10 a month if averaged over the year.
So just using the above apps (and not including field agent as it's only recently picked up) there's another £100 a month (makes the price of that smartphone a bit more palatable now!).
Other apps of note I use are the following:
Voxpopme - gives money for doing surveys using your smartphone camera - gives £0.25p for about a minutes time - I tend to get through a couple of surveys a week so its £4 a month for less than 10 minutes work (not bad when you think of it like that!).
Ipoll - gives quick surveys on the phone which are low paying but quick to complete when you have a spare minute. The same goes for surveybods and onepulse. With dedication, you can get an easy £10 a month from these apps.
Vypr - I really like this app. Basically, you get paid money for looking at pictures of food! It pays a pittance to be honest (someone did the maths and it was pretty depressing) but it's good fun and can be used while you're doing your supermarket shop. With dedication, you can get £20 a month from this. I tend to earn £10 - £15 a month from it which is quite dedicated by my standards!
So there's at least another £25 a month for you. But where does the rest come from? Find out in part 2! (which is just below)
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