If you’re looking to make some extra moolah from the things you’ve been buying, why don’t you head on over to Shopping.com.au and start reviewing stuff? They’re currently running their $5 for 5 Promo, wherein you can review 5 products that are available on their site and you’ll get paid $5. The money is payable via Paypal. And, the promotion ends on the 30th of June 2010.

They have also shared a guide on how to write a review on their site, if you need a bit of help. But, it looks pretty straightforward. Check out the list of products that they wished to be reviewed. I’m not sure if you’re allowed to review anything else that’s not on that list.

Also, unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any information on who can join the promotion. Since this is an Australia-based shopping site, I’m not sure if reviewers can come from anywhere in the world*. And, since I haven’t personally joined the promotion, I’m not certain how it all works out.

I would’ve loved to be able to do a full report on the promo, but I don’t have the time to investigate it fully. I would’ve normally skipped writing about it because of that. But, in case it’s legit, I don’t want any of you to miss out. So, if you’re interested, check it out. They have also put an email address for questions, if you have any.

Good luck and do let me know if you give it a go.

UPDATE:
*“Qualifying Reviewers” for the purpose of this Promotion must:
a) be Australian residents of 18 years or over, who are registered users of Shopping.com; and
b) have or create a valid Australian PayPal account prior to the time at which the prizes for this Promotion are distributed.

Thanks, Lara Kulpa, for the update!

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Earn $5 for 5 Reviews (Up to $100!)

If you fancy the idea of making money from creating your own books, then Blurb might be of interest to you. It follows a DIY model of publishing books (similar to self-publishing). But, without all the hassle of coming up with a huge capital and plenty of unsold books in your garage.

In a nutshell, this is how Blurb works: You write your book. You take care of the typesetting and layout. You make sure the whole document is publication-ready. Then, upload your book on to the system. Once it’s ready to be published, you set a price if you wish to sell your book.

Then, you can order a book (or more) from your account, paying the base price. You can just mark-up the price if you wish to sell your book in person.

Or, if you don’t want the hassle of ordering too many books and selling them yourself, you just get people to buy your book directly from Blurb. Then, you get whatever profit/mark-up that you provide when you set your price. You keep the profit.

Some of the things that I like about Blurb:

• Clean interface; really pleasant site to look at;
• You can have your own little Blurb shop, if you wish. You can then share that link to people so that they can buy your books there;
• They have a free software application (called Blurb Booksmart, available both for Windows and Mac) that you can use to create your book – really handy if you want to make sure that your book is formatted for publication. It even has a built-in function that gives you warning signs if your image is not going to be publishable, etc.
• If you prefer to format your own book, that’s okay too;
• Basic books starting price is reasonable (approx. $5 for a 20-page Black and White Text book with coloured soft cover), prices go up from there, depending on the number of pages, etc;
• There are a number of options and pricing available – soft cover / hardcover, 4-colour/BW, etc.;
• Bulk discounts are available (if you buy 10 or more, you can buy your book at a lower price; the more books you buy, the higher your discount); and
• They seem to cater for a number of countries.

In any case, yes, it works pretty much like Lulu.com.

Since I haven’t tried using Blurb yet, I’m not sure about the printing quality of the books. I hope to be able to try it out one of these days and report my findings back here at some stage.

If you have given Blurb a try, do let us know what you think of it. Do you like it? What’s the quality of the printed books like? What about the service?

Right now, they’re currently running the 2009 Best Blurb Photo Books Contest. The grand prize winner gets to win $3,000. The runner-up wins $1,000. Then, there will be honourable mentions, who will then win $50 gift cards from Blurb.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Blurb: Make and Sell Your Books

I first came across the idea of crowdsourcing a few years ago through Sitepoint’s Contests section.

If you haven’t come across the concept of crowdsourcing, basically, the idea is that an individual or organisation (aka contest holder) who needs a design job done (a logo, web design, etc) can post a contest and designers can take part in it by submitting their own designs on spec. The contest holder will then choose from the submitted designs and award a prize (usually, in cash) to the winner.

This concept has been applauded by people who are looking for an alternative way to obtain design jobs and/or to get some options in completing desired design. From a designer point of view, those who aren’t getting enough jobs (or just starting to build their portfolios), may see this as a good way to make some extra cash and gain some extra exposure/experience. From a client point of view, it makes the process of finding reasonably-priced design work completed a lot easier and simpler. Plus, clients get the option of choosing from varied designer styles and experiences.

However, there are also several designers look down on this type of work. Many think that this de-values the work of designers in general. And, it provides a lot of scope for plagiarism/copyright infringement. There are many other complaints about crowdsourcing from a few professionals in this field.

In any case, if you’re a designer who wish to find ways to make some money doing crowdsourcing work, two of the most popular places that I’m aware of at the moment are:

• 99Designs – This is basically the old Sitepoint contests section. The guys from Sitepoint obviously saw a need to expand this area, so 99Designs was born. There are several design contests going on all the time in this site.

• Crowdspring – This is another popular design marketplace online. Over a hundred design specs going at any given time. Clients can also browse designer portfolios in a nice, simple manner.

I haven’t participated in crowdsourcing yet myself as an individual. However, I know a few people who got their logos, web designs, and graphic design needs through crowdsourcing and they seem happy with the process and outcome.

What about you? Have you tried crowdsourcing before – either as a contest holder or as a designer? If yes, how did it all go? Will you recommend it? If not, why not?

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Crowdsourcing Design Jobs Online

If you’re not running Chitika | Premium Ads yet, now might be a good time to try. Especially if you can come up with interesting ways to display your ads.

You see, they are giving away a total of $200 for “the most interesting/cool/unique placements of Chitika | Premium ads”.

What does it mean to have a cool/interesting/unique ad placement? Well, according to Chitika, “a good way to place these ads is by placing the ads inside the content (right after the first paragraph) – which will generally earn a very high CTR/eCPM. But since it will only display to search engine traffic, it will not display to your regular readers (they won’t be annoyed by ads in the middle of their content!).”

The one who can come up with the best placement will receive $100, and 2 runners-up will receive $50 each. To enter, email specialprojects@chitika.com with a link to your interesting Premium ad implementation. Chitika asks entries to include a sentence or 2 about the ad setup. Deadline for this is on 12:00pm US EDT on Monday, November 10.

Good luck with it!

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Chitika’s $200 Giveaway

The b5media Sports Channel is holding a contest over at Thoroughbred Fever, in celebration of the Breeder’s Cup. Just leave 5 comments in any of the blogs from the Sports Channel and you’ll get the chance to win $200 spending money on Amazon. Good luck with it!

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Win a $200 Amazon Gift Certificate

After participating in a contest that might help in getting me a long-term project this year, I’m in the mood for sharing these contest links and other possible ways to make money online to all of you. Good luck!

Squidoo is looking for a software developer. If you know one who’s available, you might earn a quick $3,000.

You might want to try your luck to win an even quicker $50 just by subscribing to PerfectBlogging’s RSS feeds by email. – via John Chow

How about winning an HDTV and Windows Media Center Extender? Gizmodo is running an interesting photo contest for those drooling over those prizes.

Phauntactions has another fun photo contest wherein you can win $25.

Are you a video whiz? Video Wrap offers $1000 to someone who can create the best short video about their product.

Got a business idea that you’ve been dying to share? New Ideas offers $100 to $5,000 to those who’d like to help in making South Carolina a better place with their excellent business ideas.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Try Your Luck in Making Money Online Quick: Contests and Referral

b5media just launched its first content gateway on Entertainment – Spekked. You can read about the official launch here.

As part of the launch, there’s an ongoing contest where you can win great prizes like an iPod Nano, DVD box sets, and Netflix subscriptions, among others. So, check it out and take part in the contest.

Technorati Tags: bloggers, blogging, contests, entertainment, prizes, spekked

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Win Prizes from Entertainment Gateway Launch

b5media‘s Business Channel is currently running the Jump Start Your Business Contest. There’s a $2,000 Prize Pack up for grabs. Go to the contest page over at TaxGirl.com for details. Have fun and good luck!

Technorati Tags: business, business ideas, contests, jump start your business

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Jump Start Your Business Contest!

Another day, another social networking site. But this time, with a twist.

If you join iYomu (tagged as ‘A Social Networking for Grownups’ – er, as opposed to…?), you get the chance to join the One Million Dollar Challenge. Basically, when you sign up, you become eligible to join the challenge (yes, it’s free to join). Then, you start collecting points when you complete a profile, take part in puzzles, refer a friend… By the end of 2007, the Top 10 members with the most points will be eligible to be chosen for the Grand Finals round. The ultimate million dollar winner will be chosen from one of the 3 Grand finalists.

Oh, and yeah, the winner will not get the $1M prize in one go. It will be paid over a period of 12 months. Not a bad thing, really, as it can avoid overspending in one full swing.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if iYomu is going to make it in the fierce battle of the online social networking space. What with MySpace, Orkut, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Multiply, among many others, it IS going to be tough to break in. But, I guess, giving away one million dollars can definitely help attract some members.

To learn more about iYomu’s $1M Challenge, read the Challenge Rules.

Tip from Dipping Into the Blogpond.

Technorati Tags: contests, iyomu, $1M challenge

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Win $1 Million Dollars with iYomu

I just found this site called The Contest Center. It claims that people can win cash by participating in their contests, puzzles and games. I tried to look for more information, but I couldn’t find any details (how to win cash prizes, how to get paid, etc). So, I’m not quite sure if this site is legit or not. What do you think?

This made me think, though, if there is a way to make some good money simply by joining contests online. After all, I have heard of some people who actually try to earn a living somehow just by joining game shows and such. I’m not particularly watching out for these opportunities, so I’m not sure if it’s viable.

What do you think? Have you tried joining contests online and made money? Share your story here!

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Make Money with Contests Online?