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| Yes | 32% | 505 votes | Total: 1561 votes | |
| No | 68% | 1056 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhen I first read this question the first thing to pop into my head was "of course you can." Right now I am working online, and I guess I would be the proof that is needed to show that you can in fact earn a living online. Don't get me wrong I'm not making millions a year, but I am getting by.
Generally I do not spend a lot of time on PTC type sites because I would have to click for days and days just to earn a dollar, and that just seems crazy to me. I have never been the type to have legions of people from around the world clicking on sites all day for hopes that these fraction of a pennies add up. I do however know a few people who have been successful with this.
One of the first things that I did to earn extra money was get paid to surf sites. There are sites out there who will pay you to surf sites. These companies pay for this because the more people that access their site the higher they are on the list when someone uses a search engine such as Google. You wont make a lot with these types of sites but I average a good $25 a week or so.
Another great way to earn money is by writing. Writing with sites such as Helium, and Associated content. I write a few articles every day, and I average about $250 a week on various writing sites. The most important thing when it comes to writing sites is to make sure that you are proof reading what you are turning in. Correcting small mistakes can assist in bringing in more money for your articles. Also both Helium as well as Associated Content do have up front payments which helps a lot.
Finally there are search engine sites out there that you can sign up for that will pay you for helping people search. Sites such as ChaCha, and kgb will pay you for helping customers search. ChaCha pays .20 for every search you perform, and kgb will pay .10. I can usually get an extra $200 or so per week on these sites.
So I'm averaging about $575 per week working from home. These are things that I can do in my spare time, and it still allows me to go to school full time. If someone was able to commit full time to these earning avenues I'm sure that they could at least double what I am making.
There are legitimate sites out there that will allow you to earn money online. We all run into a few scams along the way, but don't give up ,keep searching, and you will find what your looking for. Do a little research, and ask people who are actually making a living online. Most of us would be happy to help.
Learn more about this author, Brian Cote.
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No
Debate: Can surveys and other online gigs pay your bills?
Online surveys, paid to click, paid to read, and other such online gigs that are used to earn some cash, are not sound ways to live life in an effort to pay the bills. Sure, some people can make a little extra something to add to their finances monthly, but it is very uncertain and inconsistent means of earning. In other words, you cannot count on those types of online gigs to support you and pay the bills.
Many of those programs are based on the member's ability to draw in other members through referral. When a member is able to bring in other referral members, they make a percentage of earnings from what that referral makes. It is your basic pyramid scheme or MLM program. You sign up, 3 of your friends sign up, and 3 friends of each of your 3 friends sign up, and so on. This is what makes these programs an unstable source of income, because you become dependent on your referrals to help you earn. So, maybe new referrals you bring in are initially excited about this program you may have hyped to them, and then they realize it is not really for them, and there goes potential earnings.
Another thing to consider with these online gigs is that to make any real money, a person would have to literally sit at their computer all day long doing what it takes to earn with these programs. Most of these programs pay a couple of cents per completed activity, and not every member will be eligible to take every survey they are offered. If a person has that many hours to spend on the computer, you have to wonder what they are neglecting in their effort to make a few cents or few dollars every hour.
Then, many of these programs become unreliable and do not always payout when they say they will, or they go under before payments are actually paid-out. Can anyone really take the chance and count on this unreliable source of money to pay their bills? It is pretty irresponsible to become dependent on these types of programs; because they are not jobs that offer a specified salary or income that a person can consistently count on.
The use of words like pyramid and down-line would and should make any sensible person think twice about relying on these online money making programs as a method to pay their bills. A member is only successful when their down-line is equally as successful, and if you are dependent on strangers and other people to pay your bills, how smart is that?
Some people confuse freelance writing with being an online gig. Freelance writing is an actual job, meaning you are using an actual skill to produce work for a client, and in some cases are required to have a degree and expertise. Freelance writers are actually hired by clients, websites, and companies and paid a salary or fee for the articles they produce. This is way different from online writing gigs that pay you "cents" to post or you earn a performance bonus based on views of the article. Those types of writing gigs, including posting an article to Helium, give you a passive residual income that builds inconsistently over a period of time. Now, if you are fortunate enough to have an article chosen through the Marketplace, it is possible to earn more. Having a passive residual earning from sites like Helium and eHow, is a great way to accumulate money, but again, it is inconsistent because the amount you build may fluctuate. This means you cannot honestly count on it to pay the bills. However, freelance writing for an actual company, website (Associated Content, Constant-Content), or clients allows the writer to forecast their earnings and set up an actual work schedule that brings in a salary. So remember, Freelance writing is a career or job that a writer goes to everyday. It can be done from an actual office in a company or in the luxury of one's home.
If you have a little time on your hands and you want to make a little extra cash, these programs can be fun to do and break up the day with. However, they should not be counted on to pay the bills as they are not stable, consistent, or a steady means of earning money. A person has to forecast ahead and think about possible problems the company may eventually have, and what happens if they get scammed out of the earnings they did accumulate?
Learn more about this author, Jan Castagnaro.
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