MSE Blog: How I boosted my income by £200 with websites and smartphone apps

Former_MSE_Helen

"Many MoneySavers will already know that the idea of making money online is not a myth..."

Read MSE Sarah's full blog:
How I boosted my income by £200 with websites and smartphone apps


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System

I've made over £10,000 this year thank to websites and apps.

InsideInsurance

MSE_Helen wrote: »

How I boosted my income by £200 with websites and smartphone apps

I realise you are trying to emulate red top newspapers with sensationalist headlines that may have little to do with the reality but there really needs to be a timescale in there.

From looking at the copy, obviously the idea so that we see your advertising links, it appears to be £200 in 2 years so £8 a month or under £2 a week. Feels more than a little disingenuous.

May as well tell a teenager starting their first job on NMW that they are going to earn ~£546,000 and just neglect to mention that the targets only hit by retirement age

Former_MSE_Andrea

I'd disagree with that InsideInsurance, I think it's down to your own perception.

In my case I've made around £500 from Topcashback and £50 from Yougov surveys - and I'm about half way to my next £50. It's taken quite a few years to reach those amounts as I didn't receive many Yougov surveys until recently and only do shopping I would be doing anyway at Topcashback but I would still say I've made e.g., £550 and I'd still say that's boosted my income.

PS, here's a direct link to the Boost Your Income guide that's in the blog for anyone else that feels like making some extra money

ted24

katykicker wrote: »

I've made over £10,000 this year thank to websites and apps.

Incredible, well done.

Understand if you don't want to give away your secrets, but what's your best earners? Mystery shopping, surveys, referrals and so on?

SailorSam

I've spent the last couple of days reading through that long thread we've got on here about earning a second income from blogging. It started off quite well, i've made lots of nots and got some good tips but it seemed to get to the point where people were posting nothing.
Still i think i'll give it a go.

PasturesNew

Truth is, there's more to it than it looks. Lot of hard work and some luck required with what you choose......

These are "a few extra bob for those that sit on their backside", not "reliable monthly income where reward for the hours spent = at least NMW".

Also, with TopCashBack etc you do have to buy things.... I don't buy things.

System

ted24 wrote: »

Incredible, well done.

Understand if you don't want to give away your secrets, but what's your best earners? Mystery shopping, surveys, referrals and so on?

I don't mind sharing information. Basically I have joined about 30 different sites. I mainly do surveys, get paid to websites, tasks via Crowdflower and about 10% of my earnings are now from referrals.

I have a website, which I'm not allowed to post here of course, but that generates me a little income. I mainly just talk about what I've earned, what I've cashed out and how long payments take, things like that. Nothing special that anyone else isn't doing. I put in about 2-5 hours a day, spread out throughout the day, 5 days a week. If you worked it out as 25 hours a week it would only equate to not much more than minimum wage, but it has taken me a year to build up to this level. So it isn't something you can quit your job for, well, not unless you have a husband like mine who pays all the bills and looks after you :rotfl:

Note: My signature here is about £5,000 out now, if not more. My figure is more like £14,000 but that includes £4,000 of bingo winnings and other non-taxable earnings (small cash gifts etc), so I never include those in my figures.

InsideInsurance

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

I'd disagree with that InsideInsurance, I think it's down to your own perception.

I am not 100% sure what bit you are disagreeing with? The fact that not putting a timescale on the headline makes it seem more sensationalist? That a timescale should be there so that people dont think its the panacea to their financial woes? That you promote sites that generate revenues for MSE?

How would you differentiate "How I boosted my income by £200 with websites and smartphone apps" from "How I managed to land a job for £546,000 with only 1 o-level" with the later going to a blog about how they've worked on NMW for the last 50 years embedded with suitable advertising banners and links?

I understand the idea of sensationalist headlines, they are perfectly legal marketing techniques, but what is legal and what is ethical doesnt necessarily equate to each other. For a site that promotes its ethical stance/ consumer champion etc it doesnt feel compatible to sensationalism.

If you are truly trying to "help" why not interview katykicker about how she makes £10,000 a year rather than an article about making £100 a year. I am sure those who are looking for money making opportunities are probably more interested in the higher sums others have achieved even if they arent via sites that pay you commissions for promoting them

geordie_joe

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

In my case I've made around £500 from Topcashback and £50 from Yougov surveys - and I'm about half way to my next £50. It's taken quite a few years to reach those amounts as I didn't receive many Yougov surveys until recently and only do shopping I would be doing anyway at Topcashback but I would still say I've made e.g., £550 and I'd still say that's boosted my income.

You don't make money on Topcashback, you save it. You spend money and they refund some of it. That is not making money.

If the average cash back is 5% then the phrase you should use is "I spend £10,000 through Topcashback and they refunded £500"

So all you are really left with is "I made £50 on YouGov in quite a few years".

map66

geordie_joe wrote: »

You don't make money on Topcashback, you save it. You spend money and they refund some of it. That is not making money.

If the average cash back is 5% then the phrase you should use is "I spend £10,000 through Topcashback and they refunded £500"

So all you are really left with is "I made £50 on YouGov in quite a few years".

When you compare different quotes for insurances of any sorts it's also possible to make a couple pounds and you don't need to buy anything, so I would add another tenner for doing this.