Help me make something from nothing

Wishfairy2010

Here's the basics...

I'm 38, 3 school age kids and last year lost my pub and got divorced. I've a small business selling stuff I make from old wine bottles and the like and am just getting this going now.

No spare cash AT ALL. No car but do have a lovely partner who drives me about.

I've plenty of spare time on my hands through the day and would be willing to spend a couple of hours a day on the internet.

I'd like to be able to make an extra £50 a week just, for treats and days out with the kids. I'm already doing what I can to cut expenses.

I'm a member of lightspeed panels and just got my invitation to pinecone but I'm in a very rural area so there's no opportunity for mystery shopping or anything like that.

Could anyone post me to links for advise on how to bring in that little bit extra as I've been reading for days and my head is completley full of information but I don't know where to start!

Thanks x

mazza25

It won't generate what you are looking for just yet, but I've just started with Dooyoo. It's a review site for just about everything. You get 500 points for a premium review which has to be 150 words and your own opinion. You get those points no matter how many reviews there already are of that product, although they will show pending until Dooyoo check them. You also earn points if you get your review rated. For a very useful rating you get 15 points.
New members can write up to 5 reviews a day (so 2500 points, not including any you get rated). 1000 dooyoo miles are worth £1. You can redeem at 20,000 points for amazon, or 50,000 points for cash.
I've worked it out that if you do 5 reviews a day for 20 days you have made £50.
Reviews are ranging from supermarket basics/values ranges to books, to make up, to tv/audio equipment. There is a huge range on there so you shouldn't be stuck for ideas

Wishfairy2010

mazza25 wrote: »

It won't generate what you are looking for just yet, but I've just started with Dooyoo. It's a review site for just about everything. You get 500 points for a premium review which has to be 150 words and your own opinion. You get those points no matter how many reviews there already are of that product, although they will show pending until Dooyoo check them. You also earn points if you get your review rated. For a very useful rating you get 15 points.
New members can write up to 5 reviews a day (so 2500 points, not including any you get rated). 1000 dooyoo miles are worth £1. You can redeem at 20,000 points for amazon, or 50,000 points for cash.
I've worked it out that if you do 5 reviews a day for 20 days you have made £50.
Reviews are ranging from supermarket basics/values ranges to books, to make up, to tv/audio equipment. There is a huge range on there so you shouldn't be stuck for ideas

I have just registered with them and think I should be able to do a few reviews a day through the week when kids are at school.

Was also thinking it might make an interesting blog or at least be good for me to keep a record of how it goes, so now off to research how to make money blogging!

JonTurner

Hi Wishfairy, why not set up a blog about your crafting/making activities? These kind of blogs can get really popular, especially if you give out lots of tips, if it's quirky and individual, and looks good (nice layout, lots of photos etc). If you have items you make listed on a site like etsy.com, you can then put buying links on the blog so people can click through to buy your stuff, and you can also put paid links (which reward each click) to Amazon with cool books about crafting, or links to materials websites etc. You can also add adsense adverts to your blog, but they don't look very professional, and it's better if you pick you own referral links to put up. Once you've got going, make sure you start following other similar blogs on blogger, communicate with other bloggers and put links to each other's pages- you will find you get lots of readers moving between the blogs, and the more readers, the more clicks you'll get. The main thing though is to blog about something you love doing, as the blog needs to be interesting enough that people will come back every day to check- there's no point setting up a blog just to make cash, because without interesting content no-one will come back to it.

Wishfairy2010

JonTurner wrote: »

Hi Wishfairy, why not set up a blog about your crafting/making activities? These kind of blogs can get really popular, especially if you give out lots of tips, if it's quirky and individual, and looks good (nice layout, lots of photos etc). If you have items you make listed on a site like etsy.com, you can then put buying links on the blog so people can click through to buy your stuff, and you can also put paid links (which reward each click) to Amazon with cool books about crafting, or links to materials websites etc. You can also add adsense adverts to your blog, but they don't look very professional, and it's better if you pick you own referral links to put up. Once you've got going, make sure you start following other similar blogs on blogger, communicate with other bloggers and put links to each other's pages- you will find you get lots of readers moving between the blogs, and the more readers, the more clicks you'll get. The main thing though is to blog about something you love doing, as the blog needs to be interesting enough that people will come back every day to check- there's no point setting up a blog just to make cash, because without interesting content no-one will come back to it.

That sounds like a good idea. Can anyone point me to an easy way to get started with blogging? I'm really getting confused with so much info on this site - I've about 8 pages open to go and research better one my head stops spinning :rotfl:

helping_hubby

Wishfairy2010 wrote: »

Here's the basics...

I'm 38, 3 school age kids and last year lost my pub and got divorced. I've a small business selling stuff I make from old wine bottles and the like and am just getting this going now.

No spare cash AT ALL. No car but do have a lovely partner who drives me about.

I've plenty of spare time on my hands through the day and would be willing to spend a couple of hours a day on the internet.

I'd like to be able to make an extra £50 a week just, for treats and days out with the kids. I'm already doing what I can to cut expenses.

I'm a member of lightspeed panels and just got my invitation to pinecone but I'm in a very rural area so there's no opportunity for mystery shopping or anything like that.

Could anyone post me to links for advise on how to bring in that little bit extra as I've been reading for days and my head is completley full of information but I don't know where to start!

Thanks x

I don't know how rural you are - but I wouldn't discard mystery shopping. Sometimes companies are desperate to get people to do a job so will pay petrol for long distances and an extra fee. If you have a car it's definitely worth signing up. It's not compulsary to take on any jobs, so it's not like you're losing anything.

Sign up here to register for panels: http://www.volunteer4panels.com/ It took a long time for me to get an invite, but did in the end. I'm on consumerpulse and get about £10 vouchers a month, for very little work.

In case you aren't already - use quidco.

For days out etc use Clubcard points (assuming you're not so rural that you don't have a Tesco).

mateypeeps

mazza25 wrote: »

It won't generate what you are looking for just yet, but I've just started with Dooyoo. It's a review site for just about everything. You get 500 points for a premium review which has to be 150 words and your own opinion. You get those points no matter how many reviews there already are of that product, although they will show pending until Dooyoo check them. You also earn points if you get your review rated. For a very useful rating you get 15 points.
New members can write up to 5 reviews a day (so 2500 points, not including any you get rated). 1000 dooyoo miles are worth £1. You can redeem at 20,000 points for amazon, or 50,000 points for cash.
I've worked it out that if you do 5 reviews a day for 20 days you have made £50.
Reviews are ranging from supermarket basics/values ranges to books, to make up, to tv/audio equipment. There is a huge range on there so you shouldn't be stuck for ideas

One word of warning, they VOID your hard earned points after a while. at least they did mine, it is in their terms.

Ciao did not do so, so perhaps consider them instead, they are roughly the same thing, and Ciao were around first, at least I certainly joined Ciao in 2000, Doyoo much later.

One other word of advice. DO not waste time woth the separat Ciao Survey site. 10 pence of ra 4 minute survey is not just taking the wossname, it is ruddy insulting, as well as a complet waste of your valuable time.

Global Test Market, HarrisPollOnline (HiPoints), Pinecone, Lightspeed, YouGov (if you have the patience to wait 2 years or more for a £50 cheque) are the first bartch I would tell you to investigate and join up to.

Then the "marmite" of the survey world Toluna, (as many people seem to hate them as like them), but more for the chance of doing an interesting product test than their surveys, which takes 80 THOUSAND points to get a mere £12 Amazon voucher!

MyVoice, MyTNS, MySurvey.com are some of the "also rans" to consider next.

Got to make the kids supper so I will try to expand later.

I must get some of this info expanded on my website as well.

SaveForSummer

mateypeeps wrote: »

One word of warning, they VOID your hard earned points after a while. at least they did mine, it is in their terms.

Ciao did not do so, so perhaps consider them instead, they are roughly the same thing, and Ciao were around first, at least I certainly joined Ciao in 2000, Doyoo much later.

One other word of advice. DO not waste time woth the separat Ciao Survey site. 10 pence of ra 4 minute survey is not just taking the wossname, it is ruddy insulting, as well as a complet waste of your valuable time.

Global Test Market, HarrisPollOnline (HiPoints), Pinecone, Lightspeed, YouGov (if you have the patience to wait 2 years or more for a £50 cheque) are the first bartch I would tell you to investigate and join up to.

Then the "marmite" of the survey world Toluna, (as many people seem to hate them as like them), but more for the chance of doing an interesting product test than their surveys, which takes 80 THOUSAND points to get a mere £12 Amazon voucher!

MyVoice, MyTNS, MySurvey.com are some of the "also rans" to consider next.

Got to make the kids supper so I will try to expand later.

I must get some of this info expanded on my website as well.

I agree completely with the part about DooYoo. They just void everything I write on there now basically so I don't bother, even though I've got £45 on there. It's really annoying. I'm rather tempted to just get amazon vouchers but I hate amazon...

jojones55

be careful of online surveys, i must of spent a day answering them at global test market over last 6 months, and now they are sending me a $50 cheque. not worth it!

Mrs_Money

Wishfairy2010 wrote: »

That sounds like a good idea. Can anyone point me to an easy way to get started with blogging? I'm really getting confused with so much info on this site - I've about 8 pages open to go and research better one my head stops spinning :rotfl:

Sign up with Blogger.com - easy, free and you can add advertising with adsense - won't make you a fortune, but it's a start.
If you can sell your craft work locally (I'm assuming that's what you're doing now) then you may like to sell it on Folksy or Etsy (American) assuming your creations would be okay to post!
Good Luck

lily_the_pink

Check the mystery shopping thread - there is one of the companies that does emystery shopping! GFKNOP also do telephone calls quite often as does retail eye from time to time (fastest finger first but you dont lose anything by registering).

YOUGOV = surveys (takes an awful long time to get enough to withdraw - but no reg fee etc)