I’m skeptical.
Let me rephrase that…I’m very skeptical and usually have to see to believe just about anything. This is a positive for other people that know me because it means that I make sure something is “good” before I share the idea.
Maybe you roll in money and the thought of making more just repulses you, but then again, you may be as poor as a church mouse and a little more of those green bills would be a welcomed sight.
Either way, I’m going to tell you about something I started at the end of the day on 11-13-2010 called Swagbucks. Why did I give you the date? Because I want you to see that in just two weeks, I’ve come a long way with Swagbucks by doing just a few things each day.
So let’s start at the beginning.
Swagbucks is a search engine(like Google or Bing) that rewards you for searching. Before you quit listening, let me say that I do not use it as my ONLY search engine. I personally love Google and can’t give it up, but I surf some using Swagbucks each day and it helps me to earn a little money.
If you are just going to believe me without an explanation, click one of the large SWAGBUCKS buttons below and sign up. I also have a few Swagbucks ads on my blog in the side bar and footer. By getting referrals, not only will my referrals make money, but I will earn swag bucks PER each referral. Each time one of my referrals earn on a search, I will earn a little too. So you will be not only helping yourself earn money, but also helping me. Once you join, you can do the same thing with all your friends, so don’t forget to advertise after you get started with Swagbucks.
Really, can you ignore or resist that big red button?
Let me explain how it all works.
The sign up sheet is simple and looks like this:
You will automatically earn “swag bucks” through this entire process of setting yourself up to use the Swagbucks search engine. Let me just say it is all worth it!
Next step is to download the unobtrusive, ad-free Swagbucks toolbar. As you can see below, it is a small toolbar and won’t bother you at all. I’m saying that because I’m the number one hater of toolbar mess, so I guarantee that this is a great toolbar and I actually like it.
Okay, hell just froze over because I once swore that I would never like a toolbar.
Now make Swagbucks your home page. You can search on your home page or in the tool bar. There is also a plug-in so you can use it in other toolbars you already have too.
Let me show you an example. I searched for a “button generator” to create the big round buttons you see in this post. When the page loaded with button generator sites, I saw at the top of the search results screen that I earned (see below for a snapshot of my screen) 11 Swag Bucks! Sometimes you have to enter a code to “claim” the swag bucks, but this time I didn’t have to do anything other than a little happy dance. Searching the internet will randomly earn you between 5 and 1,000 swag bucks.
Here’s a little trick I’ve learned already – If you already know which site you want to visit, do not just type it in the address bar. Go to the Swagbucks search box and type in the address without the dot com or dot net. For instance, the name of my blog is The Redhead Riter and the URL is http://www.TheRedheadRiter.com. When I want to go to my blog, I type “The Redhead Riter” in the search box. How thrilling do you think it was when I won 5 swag bucks for searching my own blog? Hello!!!
I have also found that when I search for things in a sentence, I tend to get more swag bucks. For instance, rather than searching for “turkey recipes,” try “turkey recipes using bay leaves.” The Swagbucks search engine loved it! Happy dance time again!
At least once a day, you will earn a swag buck just for opening the browser.
How is all this sounding? Too good to be true? I am telling you that it is great and I will prove it shortly.
Another simple way to earn swag bucks is to answer the question of the day in the “Daily Polls” found from the “Ways To Earn” dropdown menu in the toolbar. If you answer the poll question a day later, you will not receive a swag buck, so be sure to answer it each day.
On the Swagbucks main page, “Special Offers” loop through the great deals of the day. As you can tell, the amount of swag bucks earned vary greatly. Just in the example below, the range is from 2 swag bucks to 2,376 swag bucks. If there is something you want to buy, do it through the Special Offers in order to earn swag bucks while you are buying.
My only suggestion about the videos on Swagbucks TV is learn how to STOP watching!!!! I rather get hooked because they ARE so short and interesting.
In the tool bar you will see a “Mail” icon. Keep your eye on it. You will frequently get an email telling you a code to enter which will give you extra swag bucks. There is nothing to do other than enter the code before the expiration day and time. Easy! Easy! Easy!
Swagbucks has a strong anti-spam policy, so you will not receive emails from anyone unless you sign up and ask for them. It is sweet heaven!
So what can you use all these swag bucks for and what makes it worth having a toolbar and using a different search engine?
You will get FREE ITEMS THAT YOU CHOOSE TO “BUY” by MAKING MONEY through searches online using Swagbucks! There are all kinds of things that you can buy at the “Swag Store,” but my favorites are the gift cards. Below I show a few of my favorites as an example and to the left you can see all the different categories of things you can purchase using your swag bucks. Yeah, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. There are gift cards for Lowe’s, PayPal, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Target and many, many more.
Do I have your attention now? It is soooooooooooooooo worth the effort to use Swagbucks because all you have to do is SURF THE INTERNET and that is something you already do!
Now are you ready to click the huge button and begin this lovely journey of simple money making?
Well, I already shed some light on a few of the pros so now I am going to tell you the con too. I want you to realize that I’m not trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
Prodege search utilizes metasearch technology to compile results from many of the Web’s major search properties, delivering more relevant and comprehensive results every time you search. Swagbucks injects sponsored search results in between the normal results, but they are clearly marked as “sponsored.”
This may be aggravating to you, but a little aggravation is worth earning money. Aren’t you aggravated when the clock goes off and you have to get up before the rooster crows to drive into your job? Well, yeah, I rather be at home in my pajamas working, so I can put up with a little aggravation of sponsored ads between my search possibilities. Besides, these sponsored search results help pay for the swag bucks we all receive for FREE! The first page usually has the most sponsored ads, but hey, it is just the first page!
If you are looking for another con to using Swagbucks, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I haven’t found anything else that is the least bit of a turn off.
Earning swag bucks for searching online is like someone paying me for just being me! It is truly that easy!
Hopefully, I have convinced you to sign up for Swagbucks and to do it through my referral link to help me out too. After you get it all set up and use it for a bit, tell your friends using your referral link which Swagbucks will provide you.
Do you want to see how much I have earned in less than a full two weeks of surfing, watching videos, finding hidden Swag Codes, getting swag bucks in my email, loading the tool bar and all the other things listed above?
Are you really curious?
I could tell you, but I think I will show you for a bigger impact of the worth of Swagbucks…
Convinced? Now are you ready to click the button to begin your Swagbucks journey?
You’re welcome!
The last “Woo Us To Your Blog” post explored How To Create Favicons For Your Blog Or Site and I’m wondering if you remember what a favicon is and if you have created one?
As always, attached is the weekly Linky to enter either the main URL to your site or add each post you publish throughout the week. You don’t have to do anything special, just drop your link in and get a little extra exposure to your site.
Until next week’s wooing post, have fun with Swagbucks and I will see you back here next week with another blogging tip.
Knowing that you are going to love Swagbucks,
The Redhead Riter
Robyn Campbell says
Hi, following from Blogfrog. Love to have you visit me. Not sure about swagbucks. But I'll give it some thought.
I'm a children's writer. Anyway, hope yuor Thanksgiving was DELICIOUS. 🙂
katlupe says
I can't believe how many swagbucks you earned already!!! I thought I was doing good with a little over 300. Now I am going to follow your instructions. Thank you for this post.
Teresha@Marlie and Me says
Wow, you racked up! I have a Swagbucks account I created months ago, but never got into using it regularly. I need to revisit it.
Small Footprints says
Can I ask … approx. how many swagbucks does one need to get a gift card … perhaps a $5 Target gift card?
Thanks!
Pammy pam says
i'm gonna try it ONLY because i trust you, red. i'm scared, but i'm gonna do it!
MCM Mama says
I love swagbucks! I'm the lamest user ever and I still manage to get a few $5 amazon certificates a year. Totally worth it, even if you seldom remember to use it.
?Georgie? says
I have been wondering about swagbucks…thanks for all the info
MangoTango says
Interesting. I'm intrigued and will give it a try. Thanks for sharing the information.
Nicki
MFA Mama says
Well hell, it's worth a shot! I signed up with your link 🙂
Neena says
I have heard of SwagBucks but never really looked into it – maybe it's high time that I do.
The Zany Housewife says
I just signed up. Should be interesting to see how it all works out.
Lori says
I have this thing about toolbars too, especially now that I have the Alexa toolbar too, but I'll try this. I have a 'To Do' list for my blog and other computer related stuff. Thanks for always sharing such great stuff!
MusingMom6 says
I have a post:
http://musingsmom.blogspot.com/2010/12/do-you-want-to-make-money-easy.html
check them out. I've done better, maybe not everyone gets the same results.
Holly says
I finally signed up under you. ;D I'll likely have questions as time goes by and I have time to look into what I'm doing and how to do it better. LOL!! ;D
Paula & Skip says
Had a good read through. I know what you mean by searching for several words or I like I do currently searching a lot of German stuff and Swagbucks is so pleased. Me too.
Sunny says
I LOVE Swagbucks! I use my bucks to get Amazon gift cards. I've gotten a few free books that way. I can't recommend it enough!
this post says
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon you blog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts.
After all I will be subscribing to your RSS feed and I hope you write again soon!
Sherry Riter says
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Thomas Bergel says
I just joined and earned 32 SB’s in less than 5 minutes.
Sherry Riter says
Yay!!!! Way to go Thomas! 😀
Diana says
hi,
i tried using the swagbuck search engine instead of google but didn’t get any points for that..is it that they only give sb’s to see certain sites and not any site?
Sherry Riter says
If you use it everyday, you will get Swagbucks. I don’t think there is any secret to getting them or that they are only for certain sites. If so, I haven’t discovered it.
keith townsley says
Try to get the money you’ve earned from Swagbucks and you’ll soon find it’s not simple. They insist your paypal account is verified, fair enough. Problem is, you go through the process of verifying your paypal account only to find they want further verification – mobile phone or mail. Of course the mobile option doesn’t work (at least not for a U.K. use on contract), so you have to wait for a postcard to arrive (yeah, good luck with that). Why not send an email, or a message within the messaging service on the site? Probably coz they don’t want to pay out, and the more they frustrate you, the more chance you give up your hard earned pennies and move on.Totally frustrating and not worth the effort for such little (impossible to collect) rewards.
Sherry Riter says
I’m sorry you’ve had such a hard time Keith. I’ve found this site SO HELPFUL and am able to get gift cards all the time.