my two ways of earning money online

today i am going to review my two ways of earning money online

no1 is SWAGBUCKS

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a fantastic destination for online rewards, combining everything we love about making money online. You can earn a huge variety of rewards for your online shopping, searching, watching videos and more. 

Reward sites can be hit or miss, with many feeling like scams. Don’t worry — Swagbucks is legitimateand if you’re willing to put in some time, you can earn great gift cards to retailers like Amazon and Target.

In about 30 minutes of actual work over the course of a week, I earned 430 Swag Bucks (SB), the site’s “currency,” which roughly adds up to a $4 Amazon gift card (works out to about $8/hour). I only used a couple of the features, though — you might be able to do much better.

Ready to get started? Here’s how to use Swagbucks to start earning rewards.

How to Sign Up

Signing up is easy. Just head to Swagbucks and enter your email address or sign in with Facebook to create your account. If you sign up through this link, you’ll even get a $5 bonus when you take your first action!

After creating an account, earn some quick and easy SBs by filling out your profile, installing the “SwagButton” browser extension and making Swagbucks your default search engine (more on those later). Even if you’re not super tech-savvy, the user-friendly website will walk you through the process.

Earning Rewards on Swagbucks

Once you’re set up, it’s time to start earning money. Different tasks will earn different amounts of SBs, and each SB is worth roughly one cent. Here are the most popular ways to rack up SBs:

Online Shopping

Similar to cash back sites like Ebates, Swagbucks gives you rewards for shopping through their links, clicking through Swagbucks before heading to, say, Amazon. Like in any affiliate program, Amazon pays Swagbucks a commission. Unlike with most affiliate programs, Swagbucks shares a piece of that commission to you. Since you pay the same price either way, why not earn a little back from your purchases?

For instance, Amazon pays up to 4 SBs for every dollar you spend on certain item categories. That’s roughly 4% cash back on any purchase you make. And if you’re anything like me (i.e. everything you buy, you buy on Amazon), that adds up to a good chunk of change every year!

Amazon is just the beginning; Swagbucks also partners with major brands like Gap, Target and Walmart. Just add the Swagbucks Shop page to your bookmarks, and use it every time you plan on buying something online. If you’ve installed the SwagButton, this is easy — it’ll alert you anytime you’re visiting a site where you can earn SBs.

Searching

Make Swagbucks your default search engine and you’ll earn between 25 and 50 SBs per day, with the occasional bonus thrown in.

This is my favorite way to earn with Swagbucks as it’s a set-it-and-forget-it situation. Once you set it up, you won’t even realize you’re using it and it takes no time at all — you’re essentially making money doing something you’d be doing anyway, which is the best way to make money.

If you really want to maximize your rewards, you can start by signing up for Bing Rewards instead of using Swagbucks search. Once you get 500 credits, you can convert them into SBs. Bing requires you to have a Live or Hotmail account (shudder), but is more consistent about giving rewards, while Swagbucks offers them randomly. Personally, the hassle of a second account doesn’t appeal to me, plus you can only do this once per Swagbucks account, but it’s worth looking into if you already have one of the required email accounts.

Note from Kyle: You can earn up to $15/month searching the internet with Swagbucks.

Surveys

The most lucrative way to earn rewards is through paid surveys, with some paying up to 300 SBs each. While you have to qualify for surveys before you take them, Swagbucks does try to match you so you waste less time. Each survey takes about 20 minutes.

Note from Kyle: You’re not going to get rich with the surveys, but I’m usually able to pocket an extra $10-$20/month. 

Videos

Yup, Swagbucks pays you to watch videos! You won’t earn a lot (up to 150 SBs per day), but the videos are in all sorts of categories — entertainment, home, travel — so you’re likely to find something that appeals to you. Or, try my trick: I just turn off the sound on my computer, open up a new tab and keep the videos going in the background while I work.

You can also download the Swagbucks TV app, which plays videos back-to-back on your phone. Again, just plug in your phone, make sure you’re connected to Wifi and set it aside to play videos — and earn rewards — while you do something else.

Note from Kyle: It’s actually possible to earn up to $90/month using the video channel.

Coupons

Swagbucks offers coupons to help you save money at the store while also rewarding you with SBs when you use those coupons. Double win! You’ll earn 10SBs for every coupon you use, which translates to an extra 10¢ cash back. I’m sure we don’t need to say this, but just in case: Only use coupons on stuff you would have bought anyway!

How to Earn Even More Rewards

If you really want to get serious about Swagbucks, you can explore entire blogs and forums dedicated to earning and redemption strategies. We’re really just exploring the tip of the iceberg — and it’s a big iceberg.

But without completely overwhelming you, here are a few tricks to maximize your Swagbucks experience so you can earn more rewards for less work.

SwagButton

The SwagButton is a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Keeping it installed earns you 1 SB a day, but it also helps you earn you extra SBs in a couple of ways. The SwagButton lets you know if the site you’re on offers SBs for online shopping, shows videos in the corner of your screen (so you can multitask) and lets you redeem Swag Codes right from your browser. What are Swag Codes?

Swagbucks Codes

Swag Codes are short combinations of words and numbers that earn you instant SBs (usually between one and five) and expire after a few hours or days. You’ll find them “hidden” around the site and social media, and if you’re using the SwagButton or the Android or iOS apps, you’ll be notified every time there’s a new code.

Or, if you’re lazy, my favorite way to do this is by visiting a site like sbcodez.com, which collects all these codes in one place. Check a few times every day for the latest offers.

To enter the code, just click on the little safe icon at the top of the page when you’re in your Swagbucks account. Enter the code, and voila! You can also enter your codes through the SwagButton if you prefer.

LastPass

I already use LastPass to keep my passwords secure, but this system also does an amazing job of filling out forms. If you’re going to be doing a lot of surveys on Swagbucks (or anywhere, really), LastPass is the way you’re going to stay sane answering the same address/birthday/race questions over and over.

Use LastPass to save all your information, and you’ll be able to fill out those surveys much more quickly — helping you earn those rewards more quickly.

Referral Program

Want to share Swagbucks with your friends? Referrals are  fantastic way to make a lot of SBs as once. Whether you share a link on Facebook, email your friends or put a banner on your blog, once a friend signs up for Swagbucks through your link, you earn 10% of the SBs your referral earns — for life.

How to Cash Out on Swagbucks

Swagbucks pays in gift cards to retailers like Amazon (most popular), Target, Walmart and iTunes. My favorite option is to get PayPal gift cards — it’s basically like earning cash, because I can spend it anywhere.

You can usually expect to get roughly $1 on a gift card for every 100 SBs you redeem, and the redemption rate is the same across the board, so 500 SBs will get you a $5 Amazon gift card or $5 on PayPal. Keep an eye on their Rewards page, as sometimes certain gift cards go “on sale” and you can get larger denominations for fewer SBs.

Redeeming your SBs for gift cards is easy, but please, please, please cash out early and often. I’ve read horror stories on forums about Swagbucks randomly deactivating accounts (the site is super sensitive, as it should be, to folks gaming the system) and it can hurt like hell to lose thousands of SBs at once. Plus, there’s no reason to wait as there aren’t any discounts for saving more SBs and there’s no minimum redemption amount. Once you’ve earned enough SBs for the reward you want, redeem them!

You can redeem two rewards each day. Unless you’re super keen to earn a ton of SBs, you’re probably going to be well within this limit.

When you redeem your SBs for a reward, you don’t actually get your gift card right away. It can take up to 10 days before you get an email from the site notifying you that your card is ready. Just click on the link in that email and log into your account, and you’ll see your gift card. Depending on the type of card, either print it out or use the code to add it to your account with that retailer, just in case your account gets deactivated. If you’re redeeming for PayPal rewards, make sure you’ve used the same email address for both accounts and verified your PayPal account. The transfer can take 10 to 14 days.

Don’t fall into the trap of “gambling” your SBs. Swagbucks offers sweepstakes for higher value gift cards (i.e. $100 on Amazon) and the entry fee is only a couple of SBs. But these contests are hard to win, and since the SBs are pretty hard to accumulate as it is, you’ll probably want to hold onto them for guaranteed rewards.

Make the Most of Your Rewards

If you’re going to put in the effort to earn those rewards, you’re going to want to get the biggest bang for your buck.

While it’s not super impressive to think about a $3 gift card here, a $10 PayPal transfer there, thinking strategically about how you can use your rewards helps make those benefits more exciting.

Earn Toward a Specific Purpose

The Swagbucks Rewards Store has an insane number of options with gift cards to places like Amazon, Lowes, even many gas stations. You’re definitely going to find something you like, but why not focus on a specific goal?

For example, you might start now and plan to use your rewards for your Christmas shopping. By the time the holiday season rolls around, you might have a couple hundred dollars on Amazon! Or if you’re planning a summer road trip, focus on earning gift cards to cover some of your gas for the trip.

Reward Yourself

Don’t have a lot of wiggle room in your monthly budget? Use your rewards to pay for a small treat for yourself or your family, maybe a dinner out or a movie night.

Invest

You don’t need a ton of money to start investing. Set up an investment account through a tool like Acorns or Betterment. Link that account to your PayPal account, then transfer your rewards straight through to your new investment account. It might start out small, but it’ll grow!

Should You Sell Your Gift Cards?

You might want to consider selling your gift cards online, but seeing as you won’t get the full face value, this is probably not your best option. Plus, with so many rewards to choose from, you’ll be able to find a card you actually want to use.

All in all, here at The Penny Hoarder we love Swagbucks. It’s perfect for earning a little extra cash for stuff you’re already doing. Should you sit in front of your computer all day answering surveys? Probably not.

But if you can set up Swagbucks to be automatic (playing videos in the background, using it as search, doing a few surveys every day when you’re bored), your rewards will add up and help you earn extra cash to put toward your goals.

second is ADFLY

What is Adf.ly? Adfly Review: Make Money Shrinking Links

One new way of making money online is by posting links on social media and blogs. One company that can help you do this is adfly.com. This company pays you to use their link shortening service. 

Personally I do not use adfly to make money online, but for the purpose of this review I decided to use it for a month to give it a try. Overall Adfly is a good company and I could not find anything wrong with the company.

The only thing that might hold you back from using adfly is if it doesn’t fit into your online plan, which is the case for me.

In this review I will cover what is adfly, how adfly works, advantages & disadvantages, and my experiences with adfly!

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What is Adf.ly? How Does it Work?

Adfly is actually an extremely easy process. First you type in the link you would like to shorten. Adfly shortens the link for you and you place it on your blog or anywhere you would like. When people click on your link they’re redirected to a short ad and then brought to your desired URL. O and of course you get paid for it.

Sometimes my explanations are not the best so it is easier just to show. Click the link below to see what I mean!

Click here for an example!

If you clicked the link above you will be brought to a page that looks something like this! The ad can be different, but you get the picture.

After you view the ad for 5 seconds in the top right hand corner you’re able to click skip ad and you will be brought back to this article. When you clicked on that ad I just made $.0005.

That is how adf.ly works and as you can see it’s pretty simple.

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Different Ad Types

There are two different types of ads that you can display through your links. One an interstitial ad that is like the picture above. This ad shows no signs of the URL your linking to until the visitor clicks on skip ad. The other ad option is banner ad. This option shows the URL of your link with the adfly banner across the top. You can see an example of this below.

As you can see the desired link still appears on the screen, but an adfly banner appears at the top until the visitor closes the advertisement.

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How Much Will Adfly Pay You

There are two different rates of payment for the two different adfly banners. Of course the  interstitial ad pays the most because no sign of your link is visible and a full pageadvertisement is shown. The banner ad pays less and you can see the breakdown below.

Interstitial Ad: Pays up to $5.00 per 1000 views. or $.0005 a view

Banner Ad: I have seen these pay up to $3.00 per 1000 views or $.0003 a view

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How To Get Paid By Adfly

One great thing about Adfly is they do offer some good ways to get paid. Adfly offers payments through PayPal, Payza, and Payoneer. Most of you will use PayPal which is my preference of the three

Adfly has a minimum cash out amount of $5.00 for Paypal and Payza. If you choose to use Payoneer the minimum cash out amount is $10.00.

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Adfly Referral Program

Afly offers a great referral program. By referring publishers, or people who post links like you, you will receive 20% of all their earnings for life. You can also refer an advertiser or someone who pays for advertising with adfly. You will earn 5% of what those referrals spend on advertising.

As a member of Adfly you will have access to about 20 different banners to place on your blog of all different sizes you can see an example below.

Proof Of Payment From Adfly

Recently I was paid from Adfly by PayPal. Payment came on the 1st of the month and was for the full amount. Adfly will reward you your earnings and pay you on time!

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My Adfly Review

Company Information:

Website: Adf.ly.com

Cost: Free

Score: 90 out of 100

Verdict: LEGIT

I feel that Adfly is a completely legit company. In my month-long review I found nothing wrong with the company at all. The system always worked, I seemed to always get credit for clicks, and support was good. I really don’t have anything bad to say about this company.

I gave adfly a 90 out of 100 just because I have not personally seen money from this company so I am not 100% sure they pay, but I am 99%. Also it will be extremely hard to reach the minimum cash out amount if you don’t have tons of traffic.

Now I will say I don’t recommend using Adfly for everyone. I feel that it really doesn’t make sense for most internet marketers to use this company, but I will touch on this at the end of the review.

Advantages:

• Proof of payments being made on the internet
• Two different ad options to suit you better
• Can be paid by PayPal
• Low cash-out amount
• Referral program to maximize earnings
• Great support & Forums

Disadvantages:

• Will be hard to reach cash out amount
• Not right for all internet marketers

My thoughts on Adfly

Once again I have found nothing wrong with the Adfly company, I think they are great. But here my few concerns about the link shortening idea in general.

Will it be possible to reach the cash-out amount:

I believe that there is and it’s possible for people to reach the minimum cash out amount in just a couple of days or each month. But the thing is this is not realistic for a small blog owner or someone posting links on social media.

Unless you have a website with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of visitors each day I don’t think making a lot of money through adfly is possible.

Now I don’t think Adfly is screwing us all over with these rates per click. I think they are fair rates for just showing an ad while being redirected somewhere else, because although companies paying for the advertising are getting their name out there. No one who clicks on the link has any interest in the advertisement.

Does it fit you website plan:

I have brought this up multiple times throughout the review and now I am actually going to fully explain. Adfly just doesn’t make sense for me to use on my website or social media accounts. As some of you may know I am an internet marketer that makes 95% of my money online through affiliate marketing. Why would I want my visitors being bombarded by ads that will earn me $.0005 a pop when they could lead to a $50 probably even more sale. Doesn’t make much sense does it.

I find that most of you will probably agree that I would be wasting my time trying to make money with Adfly because my main goal is what lies on the other side of that adfly ad.

Even with social media I do post affiliate links and links to my website, but why would I want someone not visiting my site because they were interrupted by an ad.

Maybe I am just crazy, and maybe your situation is different. If it is by all means use adflybecause it is a great company.

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What To Do Now

If you have decided that Adfly will work for what you’re doing on the internet you can join by clicking here or the red bold letters below. I have no doubt that you have signed up with a great company.

If you don’t think link shortening is right for you and would like to learn more about affiliate marketing or how I make 95% of my money online click here.

Join Adf.ly Now!