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Unless you’re fortunate enough to be incredibly wealthy, extra income is always noticeable and useful.

Thankfully there are loads of online side jobs you can get involved in these days. Anybody with a computer, some spare time and a willingness to make an effort can get some extras trickling in. Those extras can take the form of cold hard cash or all kinds of gift cards and gift vouchers. These can often be just as useful as money         

Online surveys and offer sites, such as Swagbucks, are a useful source of extra income for many people. The key to making the most of these online earning opportunities is to learn the tricks of the trade. Even though these are “casual” ways of making money, the more you take a professional approach, the more you can earn.

Grab Surveys Quickly

Online surveys generally run for a limited period of time, or until the survey provider has all the responses they need.

As such, they don’t hang around forever, so it’s wise to grab them while they’re there. The busier survey platforms generally have some surveys you can take at any time, but it’s still best to “make hay while the sun shines.” If a survey is there for the taking, grab it before other people do.

Concentrate on Accuracy

Filling out online surveys is easy, but not mindless. Most surveys build in mechanisms to ensure you’re properly concentrating, and not “cheating” by not reading the questions and just selecting random answers.

Taking a cynical approach to online surveys is the wrong thing to do – both morally and practically. With many survey sites, you’ll soon find the work drying up if you continually make mistakes and fail the “attention checks.” As with everything in life, the best rewards go to those who put the proper work in.

Set Reminders for Offers

There are lots of places online where you can earn a reward for trying out some kind of offer. This can mean signing up for a free trial or testing out a new product or subscription service.

These offers can often be a great way to not only earn some money or vouchers but also to enjoy trying out a product for free. However, it’s important to be “on the ball,” or you risk accidents like allowing a free trial to turn into a paid subscription.

It’s easy to avoid this. You just have to be organized. Thankfully almost all of us have easy access to something to remind us when trials end or that something needs to be canceled. Whether you learn to use a calendar program on your computer or the reminders app on your phone, it’s easy to be organized once you make it a habit.

Don’t Worry About Being “Screened Out” of Surveys

When you take surveys, the companies behind them are often looking for the opinions of particular groups of people – perhaps parents of young children, or people who regularly travel by train.

As such, it’s not at all unusual for you to answer a few questions and then be told you don’t qualify for the survey. This is completely normal and doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. It’s all just part of taking surveys, so don’t get irritated!

Participate Fully in your Survey Platforms

If you’re serious about making money on a survey site, learn it inside-out and make sure you know about all the different ways to cash in.

Sign up to the site’s social media accounts so that you’re always among the first to know about any new developments, and make sure you participate in any loyalty schemes.

Make the Most of your Freebies

People who participate in lots of surveys and offers will find that they quickly build up a “stash” of vouchers and gift cards. It makes sense to carefully select which freebies are most useful to you at any given time because you often get a choice.

If you have special occasions coming up, Amazon gift cards are usually very useful. Alternatively, restaurant vouchers may be perfect if you want to treat yourself and your family. Think about which freebies will most enhance your quality of life.

Try to Refer your Friends

The majority of online earning sites have some kind of “refer a friend” scheme, so you can earn some extra credit just from having one of your friends sign up.

Nobody likes that Facebook friend who relentlessly shares offers and promotions, but doing it occasionally and gently is just fine. If you manage to identify people who want to earn some side income themselves, they’ll probably be quite grateful, so everybody wins!

The internet has made us lucky to live in a world where so many online earning options exist. By being smart about how you use them, you can truly make the most of it.

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