The 'Earning Money Online' Stigma.

[Jon]

So here is a good one for you.

It is my belief that no matter how much content sites like this/the green site etc provide there is still a large stigma attached to the term 'earn money online'.

If you Google it, up come umpteen high ranking blog posts all asking you to send in money to get their get rich quick DVD which will provide them with untold riches.

I believe that it is things like this that are the reason many people who want to earn from home or at least find out about it are put off.

If the first thing you find at scam sites when you show an interest it's hard to get people to trust the sector after discovering those sites.

I think it's a real shame as there is a lot of very good content out there and once you get going and share off other people you can discoverer some really good ways to earn extra cash. Whenever I try and chat to parents on-line or other groups that I am trying to get to look at this site there is always a real sense of distrust at what I am saying is not try and that you will either get scammed or mealy earn pennies doing survey sites.

Maybe that stigma will always be there...

 

[Phoenix]

Think your right Jon. A lot of people are looking to earn more money, but don't want to work too hard for it. This is why people spend £2 on a lottery ticket. You are also right about the scams although luckily in this country we do have a lot of regulations to protect us, but scams can still get through. Although having joined DS I do so with some caution, as I don't know enough about them and still learning. But will see how it goes. Where as with Phoenix I feel I can trust them, it was started by three young mums about 20 years ago. The business does attract a lot of mums, they enjoy selling the cards around their other commitments.

 

[cha97mw]

I've introduced a lot of people to the things I do and the general feeling is first they hear I make x amount per month and want it for themselves, but then when I show them how I do it, they don't want to put in the time it takes to earn it. If you truly want it you find what works and you do it.

 

[alundra]

I was just thinking about this. I have a friend who is in really bad financial need, and I wanted to introduce her to a PTC, surveys, and focus groups. But every time I mention these things, people are really skeptical. Yet, they want extra cash. :-\

 

[FreeSwagSites]

I am constantly amazed by the number of people who still think that cashback & reward sites are a scam. They just can't seem to get their heads into the 21st Century and the fact that large commercial organisations are very happy to pay people to watch their crappy adverts, answer their stupid surveys and buy their silly products.

When I started using cashback sites 4 years ago I thought that by now everyone would be doing it, but its still a tiny fraction.

I have been hearing quite a few media reports lately about the increase in the use of cashback sites and affiliate marketing, but we are a long way behind the Americans (as usual). They are coupon / discount addicts over there. Perhaps we are generally less business savvy over here and people would rather play it safe by avoiding anything online rather than spend an hour thinking it through and realising that there are genuine business reasons for companies to give stuff away to attract customers.

 

[Phoenix]

I have never really got into surveys etc.. I know they are very popular in the USA. One thing I have found talking to potential prospects for my business, they are looking for a job. Trouble is we have been brainwashed for so long thinking the only way to earn an income is to get a job. A friend told me he use to be a Manager in retail, his boss told him to try and keep hold of staff for at least 12 months, that way they will be value for money, apparently it cost £1000 to train and support a member of staff so if they leave before 12 months a company has not got its monies worth. High time people opened their minds to other opportunities other than the J.O.B!

 

[Jon]

I was just thinking about this. I have a friend who is in really bad financial need, and I wanted to introduce her to a PTC, surveys, and focus groups. But every time I mention these things, people are really skeptical. Yet, they want extra cash. :-\

I think for a lot of people that is it in a nutshell.

It can be a lot of effort when you first start out trying to find your feet in this world of earning from home and for most of us i'm sure it did start with doing online surveys but you need to look past that and realise that you become part of a community that is always happy to help others and provide them with more information on what is out there

 

[alex]

Yes I totally agree. It is actually very difficult to get find good quality content out there. As soon as you search for "make money online" there is a huge crowd of people ready to actually take your money away from you! Definitly an image problem with this area. Nice to see this forum is different and genuine.

 

[Jon]

Yes I totally agree. It is actually very difficult to get find good quality content out there. As soon as you search for "make money online" there is a huge crowd of people ready to actually take your money away from you! Definitly an image problem with this area. Nice to see this forum is different and genuine.

I just do NOT understand how those pages are SO highly ranked by Google. I assume it is a million and one backlinks maybe but Google bang on so much about content being king..

Hard to know what to believe.

 

[alex]

It's incredible how Google ranks these sites so high when they are clearly spam! So much for content is king! I'm sure they make a killing. This makes finding good quality content on this subject very challenging though.

 

[Jon]

I don't get it either.

Hopefully natural backlinks will help with whatever it is you are trying to get promoted.

We have The Money Shed being featured on a lifestyle site next week and on a BIG uni/student site late tonight or tomorrow so we are trying to build our link network in a natural way.

If all else fails I could easily go and post a comment under a lot of blogs with a link I suppose.. Seems to be what a lot of people do to get highly ranked.

 

[Jon]

Well this Stigma is still ruling the roost at Money Shed Towers.

I am currently trying to connect to the 'stay at home' parenting community and no longer have my words 'It's about earning money online' left my mouth than you can hear the an alarm go off in their head.

It really is becoming a troublesome subject for me to connect to them about and connect to them is something I want to do. I passionately feel that the Stay at home parent community could benefit from a site like this and as I trail through sites like Netmums etc. I see post after post of people wanting to know how to earn money online and the best way to go about it.

Anyone got any ideas how I can get this community on board as I am all ears.

 

[Jon]

I have felt the stigma ..

Monday I did the 'say 1800 of these phrases into a microphone' task for Appen.. that was bad enough

Tuesday - I did 1800 more and the teenager in our house comes into the room I was in and thought I was on the phone and wondered what unearth I was doing..

the shame.......

 

[ted]

I have felt the stigma ..

Monday I did the 'say 1800 of these phrases into a microphone' task for Appen.. that was bad enough

Tuesday - I did 1800 more and the teenager in our house comes into the room I was in and thought I was on the phone and wondered what unearth I was doing..

the shame.......

Haha my feelings of shame have been related to the Roamler tasks. The first field task you get is to take a photo of bananas in a supermarket which is bizarre in itself. Other shoppers around you are staring at the madman taking photos of bananas...there is no reasonable explanation for that. Following that I'd made a habit of visiting a well known supermarket weekly at same lunchtime for a few months to complete the Flower and Plant tasks. First few times were fine other than the internal feeling of "What has my life come to?" but the most recent (and last) visit there, something was going on - the shelves were almost too neat, felt as if some staff were making eye contact with me and they opened up another checkout when I went to pay for my lunch. Think I was caught out...or I became too paranoid!

 

[Jon]

haha

Roamler tip

you can take a photo on your iphone using the volume button on the side which looks less obvious

I've been caught by secuirty guards numerous times doing roamler/field agent tasks - again the shame/stigma hits me

I spend 1 year + doing the SAME GOD DAMN supermarkets on flower tasks at same time of day every Thursday. Man it got awkward sometimes

 

[Blackpepper1]

I agree, allot of people think when you talk about making money online that is a load of rubbish and that everything is a scam of some sort. Trues there are scam sites but there are genuine paying sites too. People talk about it not being worthwhile earning online but then allot of it is to do with how much effort you put in if you don't put any effort or time into any site then of course it isn't going to make money.
I love earning online and have a few good sites that give me extra money and why not?
The important thing is to enjoy what you do then it is definitely worthwhile. PTC Sites etc and even Survey Sites have got a bad name in the past and there are a few scams but there are a few genuine ones too so it is a case of finding the paying sites and sticking with them. It isn't everyone's idea of making money but I enjoy it is and I find it a nice bit of extra income.
I think this Forum is a great resource for anyone earning online. It is good to share ideas and tips and tricks and find the genuine earners/payers too.
Between here and the green site there is allot of info available.

 

[Jon]

aye, sites like the green site and The Money Shed are real treasure troves for information - The main advantage of them is that they open you up to a community of like minded people who are happy to refer and let other people in on the ways that they earn money online.

What I find a bit shocking is recently I have been joining facebook groups that are aimed at UK Mums/Parents who want to make additional incomes or live a frugal lifestyle and it is shocking how many scams get posted on these groups from people telling other parents to get involved.

Again this i believe doesn't help with the stigma where the first exposure they have to earning money online are scam sites as it is very hard to then try and explain to this person that actually, there is a whole world of opportunities available for you if you check out the right forum or talk to the right people..

 

[mnporter2001]

Interesting topic that went from searching for good money making idea's on the Google search engine, to Backlinks, and then onto flowers, bananas and talking into a microphone.

This surly needs to be put into its own category named "Classic Threads"

I earn money online, and feel no shame at all, and neither should you either, you are making a living doing a legal job that suits you.
And any one that says otherwise is probably jealous they are stuck in the 5 day a week 9-5 job.

Cheers
Mark

 

[simon]

Interesting topic that went from searching for good money making idea's on the Google search engine, to Backlinks, and then onto flowers, bananas and talking into a microphone.

This surly needs to be put into its own category named "Classic Threads"

I earn money online, and feel no shame at all, and neither should you either, you are making a living doing a legal job that suits you.
And any one that says otherwise is probably jealous they are stuck in the 5 day a week 9-5 job.

Cheers
Mark

maybe you could share how you earn your money after all that's the idea here.

 

[mnporter2001]

Interesting topic that went from searching for good money making idea's on the Google search engine, to Backlinks, and then onto flowers, bananas and talking into a microphone.

This surly needs to be put into its own category named "Classic Threads"

I earn money online, and feel no shame at all, and neither should you either, you are making a living doing a legal job that suits you.
And any one that says otherwise is probably jealous they are stuck in the 5 day a week 9-5 job.

Cheers
Mark

maybe you could share how you earn your money after all that's the idea here.

Hi Simon
I make my money online through websites.
Although it was a concious decision to find a way to start earning money online websites were furthest from my mind, I started off as I think most do with simple online surveys but I could never really get that to earn much. I was making the $1 here and there but nothing substantial then you have the minimum payout which i was finding hard to get to.

So then I thought to myself why cant I be the one offering the surveys, so off i popped to eBay and bought a website template, but to cut a long story short that didn't work either....However when I bought the website template I of coarse needed hosting, that too I bought from eBay but I purchased a reseller plan.

So that kicked of my web hosting which I still do for friends and family to this day, I have several OVH servers which run all my websites, a few seedboxs and a host of other bits and bobs

And through my webhosting I have learnt html, and php and a working knowledge of MySql

I fell up on proxy sites whilst browsing a webmaster forum, and again thought that looked easy so I bought a domain name downloaded the proxy glype software (which is free by the way) I had the hosting... so that was my first proxy site. I now have around 60 of them.

Income streams for the proxy sites are made through adsense and adfly

I am constantly looking for new websites to snap up, and infact purchased one yesterday http://trafficrating.com I gave $30 for it, and was a steal as im sure I can make that per mth from this site.

So there we go Simon I fell into it all really, but have learnt along the way and am not relatively happy with what I have, although Im always on the look out for good deal.

Cheers
Mark