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!

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

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

Crowdsourcing has been around on the web as one way to make money for beginning freelancers. There are many online companies around catering for such a business.

One of these companies is CrowdSpring. They started off offering design jobs for crowdsourcing. A couple of weeks ago, they started offering writing projects too.

So, if you’re a publisher or a business that may be looking for content writers, you can post your requirements on the site. Writers or content providers can then browse the available projects to see if anything interests them.

If you’re interested, you can browse existing writing projects on CrowdSpring. There’s only a few projects available at the moment, as they only started. In any case, some available writing projects include: guest posting for blogs, website naming, and copywriting.

Do let us know if you have any feedback regarding CrowdSpring’s writing projects section – either as a publisher/business or a writer/content provider.

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

CrowdSpring Writing Projects

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

When it comes to making money online, I have a soft spot for online content sites. There are many reasons behind this, and I think one one of them is the fact that it’s how I actually got started in this path on the web. Anyway, one of the places I have come across is a content site called LoveToKnow.

Admittedly, I haven’t tried writing for this site, and I haven’t even applied either. So, I’m not really sure about the whole process. All I know is that they have a permanent section for Hiring Writers, which includes some basic information about how to become a LoveToKnow writer.

Basically, all applicants should fill-in an online application form, which includes providing some basic personal information, choosing your areas of interests/expertise, and sending at least two writing samples. There are a variety of topics to choose from – from art and computers to baking and business, among many others. They also mention that they hire Site Editors.

When it comes to pay, acccording to the site: “Pay for approved writers starts at $20 per 650-word article, with a minimum of 20 articles required each month, pending acceptance.” I did not read any payment options for the Site Editor position.

Personally, I find that 20-article monthly minimum a bit daunting as a writer. Especially since each article should be 650 words – and it only pays $20 per article. Having said that, there aren’t a lot of content sites that offer much more than that, so it’s a competitive rate from what I know. It will just depend on how long it will take for an individual writer to complete each article, as well as the kind of rights the writers get.

In any case, I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have actually tried writing for LoveToKnow. And, if I ever give it a go myself, I will let you know.

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

LoveToKnow : For Online Content Writers

A couple of months ago, I shared the resource Bright Hub as a way to make money online. If you’re a JMMO reader who has been following my posts for a while now, you know that I usually try these things myself to let you know if it is indeed possible to make money from such sources.

Well, as you can see in this screen capture from my Paypal account, money has been deposited in to my account recently*. So yes, it is definitely possible to make money writing for Bright Hub.

Having tried this avenue of making money online, here are some additional tips if you wish to look in to trying to contribute to Bright Hub:

• Choose 1 or 2 topics to concentrate on in the beginning. Use those topics as a way to get to know how the system works.
• Learn as much as you can about the process of submitting articles in your channels. Get to know the preferred styles of each specific Managing Editor of the channel.
• Try to brainstorm articles in your topics and come up with good, quick pieces to write.
• Find places where you can submit links to your articles. Good linkbacks earn you an additional $1 per link back.
• Additional traffic also get you on to their revenue share programme, so you can start making residual income from your articles.
• Try to write at least 2 articles a month that will get published within that month, to ensure that you get paid monthly (they have a $20 payment threshold).
• Payments are sent the following month (about mid-month).

Hope this helps you to get more income generating ideas.

* I deliberately blocked out the actual $ amount I’ve earned. My *new* policy with sharing my income online are: If I’m going to mention the source of income (in this case, Bright Hub), I withhold the actual $ amount. If I decide to share the $ amount of my income (the way I do in some of my case studies), I withhold the actual source of income. This way, I avoid possible issues with terms & conditions, etc. I used to share both $ amount and source at the same time, but found it a bit tricky to manage. Hence, this new practice.

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

Bright Hub: First Payment In!

A few weeks ago, I came across another content site where you can make money online. It’s called HubPages . The basic idea is that you can make money either through (or both):

1) Affiliate Referrals – You sign-up in their affiliate programme and you promote different articles called “hubs” using your unique affiliate referral tracking links.

2) Writing Content via Revenue Share – You write content about any topic you might have in mind (or create content as a response to requested topics).

With the revenue share, you need to provide your affiliate account info with: Google Adsense, Amazon, Kontera, and/or eBay Affiliate Network. From HubPages:

After you’ve joined the affiliate programs from eBay, Amazon and Google, ads for these three companies (and we’re looking to add more) appear on your Hubs. Any revenue generated during one of your impressions (a click-through with Google, an actual purchase with Amazon or eBay) is 100% yours.

HubPages splits the impressions with you in the following way:

1. Your own Hubs: Hubbers receive 60% of total impressions.
2. The HubPages Affiliate Program: You can refer new writers to HubPages and they become Hubbers within 30 days, you receive an additional 10% of their Hubs’ lifetime impressions.
3. Traffic Referral Program: If you send traffic to any Hub, you’re entitled to either 9% or 12% of total impressions. You’ll receive 9% if the Hub you’ve referred people to already has impressions allocated to an Affiliate. If there are no Affiliates, you’ll receive 12% of the total impressions.

Whatever is left from the splits above goes to HubPages. Note that these splits apply only to HubPages and User Profile pages. On all other pages, such as a referral to a Tag page or the HubPages home page, you’ll receive 30% on a traffic referral, with HubPages getting the rest.

Basically, it reminds me a lot of Squidoo, with some adjustments here and there (and not as many affiliate link partnerships). One thing I like about it is that it seems to have a decent community. And, the points system seem to encourage better content quality (or at least, better networking skills).

I have yet to see what are the advantages (or disadvantages) of Hubpages, compared to other content revenue/affiliate sharing sites. If you have any experience working with HubPages, I’d love to get your feedback.

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

HubPages: Writing Content for Cash

If writing is one way you wish to make money online, then eHow might be one place you’d like to look in to.

How to become an eHow Writer:

1) Register at eHow.

2) Sign up for their Writer Compensation Program.

3) Start uploading articles.

How eHow Writers Get Paid:

According to the site: Writers make money on the articles they submit. Payments are generally based on traffic the article receives and the quality and uniqueness of the content.

eHow Writers get paid via Paypal on a monthly basis. Please note, however, that while registrations/sign-ups are allowed internationally, payments are available to US residents only*.

Some Advantages for eHow Writers:

• Available article template which enable easy formatting and uploading of articles. Site instruction: Just choose the title and write the body of the article by filling in detailed step-by-step instructions. Add any tips or images readers will need to complete your How-To. Then pick a category, and you’re ready to submit.
• Writers can publish articles on the topic of their choice.
• Contests and promotions are available, which enable writers to make more money.
• Tapping in to the eHow Community of Readers and Writers
• Promoting your own site/blog.

Since I’m not a US resident, I haven’t tried this service yet. If you’ve already given eHow a go, I’d love to hear from you. Do you like the program? Why or why not?

*Yes, this is definitely disappointing for non-US residents. Hopefully, they will soon change this policy.

Also See: Associated Content vs eHow Writer

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

eHow: Writing How Tos to Make Money Online