Earn money just by walking into shops

So its lovely out there. Well frankly its ruddy gorgeous. This is THE English summer, so get out there and enjoy it. I for one do not want to be sitting in front of the computer on the internet and not enjoying this weather. Ironic really as that's exactly what I'm doing.

But by getting out there I still found a way of making money online (all-be-it via a smartphone).

The good people at Quidco have developed a lovely little iphone app (may also be on Android?) that means that you can get paid for popping your head in the door of a few shops. No purchase necessary, you don't need to buy anything, you dont need to get a receipt to prove you were there and you don't even need to talk to anyone. The app works by using GPS so it knows when you are in the store - you walk in, press 'check-in' on the app and voila.

The amount you get paid varies between store but they all seem to around 10p-25p. Most of the shops on the app are phone shops - so head to your nearest 3, phones4u, carphone warehouse. If you don't know where your nearest one is, don't worry the app will show you so there's even less for you to do.

There seems to be a time limit on how often you can visit a store but they do seem to come round again.

Payment is pretty much instant - it is confirmed by Quidco straight away and then when you get over £1 will be paid to you in the next pay run so there is no waiting around for the payment to be confirmed like cashback.

So four phone shops, a couple of quick chats with sales staff and I'm £1 up!

This has got to be the easiest and simplest way of making free money. Its crazy talk it really is..


+ Quidco £1.00
Running Total: £1.63

Pending: £7.36

Cashback websites - update

Cashback!

Hello blog fans!

Using cashback websites has helped me kick start my blog earning and has been quite successful. I have got plenty of cashback lined up in the pending column. I have been using the no-brainers website that I mentioned in my last post and I have been using both Quidco and TopCashBack to get the cashback.

For anyone looking to make money online I would highly recommend signing up to both of these cashback sites, do it here: Quidco and TopCashBack.

This is going to be constant little earner this bad boi and I will try to keep this blog updated with the best cashback deals I can find and I'll list the ones I use. If you haven't done so already, there are always good cashback deals for signing up for free trials to Lovefilm and Netflix. Lovefilm cashback can be up £17 and Netflix and reach up to £12. So that's quick, good money and you get a free service for a month, just remember to cancel.

All of these below that I am adding to my pending column in this update were done in one evening. It took me at most 1 hour of my time its money for nothing and thats what this all about.


Kidoo: Registration on TopCashBack -  90p
Wish Want Wear: Registration on Quidco - £1
Toluna: Registration on Quidco - £2.50
Fly.com: Flight comparison on TopCashBack - 5p
Bingocams: Registration on TopCashBack - £1


Running Total: £0.63

+ Topcashback £1.95
+ Quidco £3.50
Pending: £7.36

Cashback websites

Cashback websites are great..no really they are. I'm always on this blog raving about this or that but cashback sites really are great and worthwhile. I'll explain a little about what they are...skip this bit if you know already.

What are cashback sites?

Cashback [cash-back] [n]: any purchase of goods or services where the buyer receives a payment in return.

Essentially Cashback websites are brilliant for buying goods online.
You visit the cashback site > you go to the retailers site > buy the item > some months later you get a percentage of the purchase back.

You can get loads of money doing this. You are essentially getting money back from doing your usual spending. One site's slogan is "you were going to spend it anyway" which is bang on, if your going to buy a CD anyway why not get a little bit of cash back. Simple(s).

For more on how cashback sites work look at Martin Lewis's article here.

For this blog

Now, for this blog. As stated in big writing at the top I am not allowed to spend my own money to get any money back. So simple purchasing aint going to cut it with me.

However cashback sites don't just stop at purchases they also offer no purchase necessary offers - where you can get money for signing up for free trials or clicking links. This is what I'm going to try..

Signing up

There are two good cashback sites out there which I have used for a while and I would recommend. These being Quidco and Topcashback.  Quidco has some offers that  Topcashback doesn't and vice-versa but  Quidco will take £5 out of your earnings a year as a membership fee - Topcashback take nothing.

I personally prefer Topcashback but if your not convinced there is a little comparison here (if a little biased)

Getting my cash

Anyhoo I have signed up to both, but have used alot of their offers pre-blog so I can't use em again.

There is a great website called no-brainers which lists some of the cashback offers that should not be missed. Ones which cost you nothing, or little, and get you some returns, well worth a look especially as some of the offers come and go pretty quickly.

I have started just on Topcashback but these are ones I have used so far...

Fly.com - Search for a flight gets you 5p - you can do a search once a week. I have done this for 5 weeks now (25p)
Baddoo.com - Register for the site and you can get £1.16
Vodaphone - Sign for a free sim card and you can get 50p

Word from the wise though, sometimes it is not worth signing up for things you have absolutely no interest in as you will get emails and potentially phone calls if you have to provide a number. So only sign up for what you are interested in.

It works for both parties though, I signed up to Search Lotto through Topcashback and I got 50p and they got a really active user!

It takes a while for the cashback to get through to your account so I'm going to set up a pending in my running total.


Running Total: £0.63


+ Topcashback £1.91
Pending: £1.91 

Search lotto - Persistence bears it fruit

Good readers, I bring you welcome news. It is with great pleasure that I can announce that I am off and running!

So my Euro Millions numbers came in last night (well four of them did) 3 numbers and a lucky star, provides a win of £12.60. Divide that by the syndicate of 20 (for euro millions its 20 people not 10 ) on Search Lotto and I can add 63p to my running total!

Its a landmark in its the first bit of cash I can add but not unfortunately a landmark in the amount. But I'm off!

My photos online, still are yet to sell. But I'm hoping a similar persistence will brings its rewards.

The next way of making money online coming up shortly....I've got a good one!


+63p - Search Lotto
Running Total: £0.63

Selling photos - Update

Just wanted to update you on how things are going...

I now have 30 photos available to purchase online. I have to admit they vary in quality, but I think you can see a gradual progression and they are getting better all the time. The main pointers I have noticed are:

• Photoshop can not save every picture - sometimes they can be too dark, or just too pants
• The world is changing all the time (but of a stupid sentence) but if you go for a walk you will spot things that weren't there yesterday.

The new 'studio' set up

I have added to my 'photo studio' a bit of foil! To improve the lighting and it is helping a lot. 

I also have a big sheet of white card which I have got from a friend so will save using lots of sheets of white paper!

I think when I first applied to various photo selling websites that my standard wasn't great. I have taken around 300 photos to get 30 accepted online - a case of picking the best ones - and I think my standard is better now.

But the site I am currently using to sell the photos is not the most widely used site on the web. So I have decided to use the site I am on to build up my profile whilst allowing them to sold at the same time. Then when I have enough photos of a good standard I am going to try to reapply for some of the better photo selling sites that I was previously rejected entry for - crafty idea I think.

I have still yet to make a sale of a photo but I think this is largely due to the standard of my pictures - it is not as easy as I thought! But my standard is getting better and I'm going to keep taking photos until I stop enjoying it. Even if I stop submitting photos these images will still be for sale - I will just have to pop on there and withdraw my earnings!

I am working on other ways of making money online at the same time and I have some exciting news for the next blog entry - I have made some money! - stay tuned, all will be revealed!

Running Total: £0.00

Selling photos online

Now I was going to open this post with "I'm no David Bailey" but to be honest I don't even know who that guy is, its just a phrase you say, but it turns out this is him > Wiki link (doesn't look very happy in the picture of him on there)

This money making attempt is to make money from selling photos online. Although I don't know who David Bailey is I appreciate the sentiment behind the phrase as I am also no photographer but from reading around, with a little bit of time and effort, there is potentially some 'free' cash in it. Time and effort are things I have in spades (another phrase I don't really understand) but anyway I have had a crack at it, and here's how I got on...

Research..

It has taken me a while to pop up this next blog post because I have been researching this topic as much as possible before delving into it. There is a really good forum post on money saving expert which I would recommend if you are thinking of having a crack yourself, there is also this brief help page and a few good forums and other blogs, just do a google search for 'sell photos online.'

From what I have picked up there is a general consensus that the best pictures to sell online are pictures for the corporate market. So I've been trying to get into the frameset of pics that corporate sites or intranets will be after, so I'm thinking things like - "contact us" pages, every site has one so thats envelopes, letters, phones, mobiles that sort of thing. Also thinking of images that could also be used across their sites, like notepads, pens on paper, calculators - these have loads of uses. From what I have learnt these are my best bet, but of course these have been done millions of times already so it is a very saturated market but this is the market I am going to start in as I can easily appreciate the uses.

If I can think of any other ideas I will change tact but I think I'm wasting time taking photos of animals as my camera is not got a very good zoom - its a average 14 mega pixel digital camera. The birds are half way to South Africa before I can get a decent shot.

So plan sorted.. time to take some pics. 

Being no photographer naturally I don't have an amazing camera or a photography studio. But from looking on the internet the best selling photos are those with white backgrounds - which is fair enough as they then can be adapted into other designs etc,

So being without a studio is a draw back, however nothing that some white paper in a bright room can't fix?

Heres a picture of my 'studio' !

I figured I would use a box which I received a parcel in which was full of packaging stuff. Thought it could make a good image on a shop on a post and packaging or delivery page?

I got quite a lot of pictures out of this, just taking pictures at different angles, different zooms and then moving the box around and changing how the packaging lies on the floor.

Here is one of my pictures:

I don't think the image is too bad. This is one of my first attempts but I have since mastered the lighting better, the problem with this one was that I had to use Photoshop a bit to increase the brightness and then I lost some of the shadow.

I have got better and I have to say I'm finding this really good fun! always on the look out for things to take photos of.

Pictures sorted, let the money roll in..

Well, got to be positive minded.

Now that I've taken a good amount of different pictures I have to pop them on photo selling websites.  There are loads of these, I found loads by just a simple google search for 'sell photos' or craftily 'buy photos.' 

Some sites are easy to apply for but others take a while, some of the sites make you read a massive list of requirements and then make you do a test at the end which you have to pass to get into their publisher/contributor section. But, for istockphoto you can find answers for the quiz! - cheeky!

I have signed up for 3 sites and the joining bit is pretty painful and you have to have 10 photos approved before you get accepted, so the first time I was not ready, I panicked and put some on there but was rejected. The second time I took 10 good photos of different things, really paying attention to their requirements, sorted them out and got accepted! woohoo I'm in!

I have found you can't take pictures of loads of things! but the main sticklers are:

• people - unless you have a model release form
• signs - anywhere there is a sign in the background - I had a really good picture taken outside but it had a car park 'P' in the background - so it was refused.
• buildings - you have to have a building release - and lets face it you don't. I had a great photo of an office building, the clouds were reflected on to its windows, looked awesome but was refused.
• anything copyrighted - a design, a style, a trademark - all will mean your photo is rejected

One site said something like "unless the picture is planned, don't bother." That's not verbatim but a good policy to go with. I'm sticking with that.

This is a long term money making project as the payout thresholds are very high - but I'm willing to give it time.

For all the praise for Search Lotto you can't say its much fun but taking photos genuinely is...that said, I've still got a ticket for Friday's euro millions and Saturdays national lottery...

So that's search lotto and selling photos -  two projects I have running concurrently, two sources of free income on the web.

But nothing to add yet.....contributions welcome!!! :) that's a joke (?)

Running total: £0.00

Search Lotto - update

Little update to let you know about how I got on with Search lotto..

Ah balls!

In my last blog post I was raving about Search lotto, I haven't stopped raving and its still a great site but I regret to say that this week I have yet to win anything...again...sad face.

I'm sticking with it though as after all as I said repeatedly in my blog post it is a lottery. So sticking with it means that I will be religiously doing 10 searches on the site a day - there is a maximum of 10 searches you can do each day and you have to do 50 searches by 10am on Friday to get two tickets for the Saturday draw or one ticket for the Saturday draw and one for the Friday euro millions.

I have found that this means that you have to plan it out, I'll do 10 searches on Sunday, then 10 each day from Monday to Thursday. I commute to work so these searches can easily be done on the way to and from work on my iphone. Furthermore you need to wait around 10 minutes between each search so its a good job its a long commute and this is when the will power comes in.

I'm going to make the decision that Search Lotto is going to be my foundation of a series of other money making schemes as it is easy to do and I can keep it going until I get bored out of my mind of searching different random things. We'll see how long it keeps going..

You quite often find with these things it is the foundation that comes through in the end - I hope that is a phrase which will come round to kiss me on the face and present me with a cheque for millions, after all if 'could be me.'

If Search lotto was the only way I was going to make my money from my time, I would need an awful lot of waiting time. That's why I have some other good plans in the pipeline for money making.

The problem with this scheme is that there is no guarantee of money its like putting money on horses - odds are probably better with that. I'm going to stick with it but I need to come up with better...


Running Total: £0.00