Earn Money with Swagbucks

Swagbucks, it's another word I had to look up. I understand "buck" which - among the 2 dozen or so meanings - is an informal term for money. But what is "swag?" It turns out it is also a slang term for money as well. So what is "money-money" then?

Swagbucks is a search and win site. That means that just by searching you can earn the so-called swagbucks and once you accumulated enough you may exchange those seemingly worthless swagbucks to tangible items or gift certificates. My favorite item to purchase with swagbucks is Amazon.com certificates. It costs 450 swagbucks to get $5 worth of Amazon certificates. There are hundreds of items you can get for your swagbucks but I'll use the Amazon.com certificate exchange rate to try to put a monetary value to your earnings in the rest of this post.

How does Swagbucks work?

You create an account by registering on the Swagbucks site. You only have to provide a name, e-mail, country, state, zip code, birth year and password. You automatically get 30 swagbucks just by signing up. Then you use their search box as a regular search engine. You will not get a swagbuck for every single search, instead you randomly win it. You know you won when you see the swagbucks bill on top of the search results.

Don't be discouraged by the word "winning." The chances of winning swagbucks is excellent. Just by using their search engine a few times you are guaranteed to win at least 10-20 swagbucks a day.

So let's do the math. 10-20 swagbucks a day means you will earn a $5 in about a month. It's not bad but maybe it's not worth the trouble. You actually have to remember to use their search box and frankly, their search results may disappoint you if you usually Google everything.

Maximizing Swagbucks Winnings By Searching

I average about 30-40 swagbucks a day by searching. So that means just by searching I get a minimum of $10/month. That's for a few minutes of your time a day! Here are a few tricks to maximize your searching "results."

• Space out your searches. If you didn't get a swagbuck by the 5th or so search then stop for a couple of hours and then try again. I do a few searches in the morning, around noon and then again in the evening. So during a workday it's possible to get 30 swagbucks. Then before you go to bed do a search again and voila! there is your 4th swagbuck win.
• Switch IPs if you can. If you get your co-workers to sign up on Swagbucks it may be difficult to win swagbucks at work. I believe the swagbucks.com uses an algorithm that involves the IP address where the search originates. Therefore if possible switch IP addresses. I have a laptop at work and we have 2 wireless networks. I normally use the secured network. However, if I have a hard time getting a swagbuck, I switch to the unsecured wireless network and I am guarrenteed to see that lovely swagbuck bill on top of my search results.
• Search for terms that return results. So searching for "aldjfadjf" is not as beneficial as searching for "how to potty train my kid." I saw this advice somewhere else but not sure if it's true. The other day my hand slipped and I searched for the backslash "\" and I got a swagbuck.
• Make sure you search on Fridays. Fridays are megabucks days. That means you have better odds at earning more than 10 swagbuck per search. So far the most I have gotten at one shot is 40 but some people have gotten as much as 100.

Other Ways to Earn Swagbucks

Besides searching there are other ways to earn swagbucks. The Swagbucks site itself has a menu item describing all of them but let me recap them here.

• Shop. If you click through their site to online stores you earn 2 swagbuck for every $1 you spend.
• Trading in. Trade in your old cellphones, video games and consoles, mp3 players for swagbucks. The number of swagbucks you earn depends on what you are trading in. I really like this option because I am not only earning money with this but do something good for the environment.
• Friends. Have your friends to sign up. If they sign up with your referral link you also get their first 1000 swagbucks they win by searching. So let's do the math again. You already maximized your search earnings and you also had a friend who may not be as good as you but still earns 10-20 swagbucks a day. Now you are up to $15/month! Add another 4 friends. That's $35/month. Teach them how to be high performing by using the search tricks above and you can exhange your earnings to $60 a month! Now you can see why I took the time to create this blog entry. ;)

Any other ways to earn Swagbucks?

Yes! With swagcodes. Swagcodes are codes you can enter on the swagbucks site to get swagbucks. Here are some locations where you may find them.

• Swagbucks blog
  
• Facebook - become a fan and check for updates
• Twitter - follow @swagbucks
• YouTube
• Swagbucks Toolbar
• Swagbucks Swidget (you can see that on the bottom of this page, just click the Swag Codes button)

I have been searching and earning for a few months and with only a few high performing friends I have earned more than $150 worth of Amazon.com certificates. That pretty much covers all the Kindle book purchases I need and then some. So it's not a scam. Try it out and experience the thrill of anticipation I feel when searching: will I see the swagbucks bill this time?

Green factor: exchanging your old cellphones, mp3 players, games for swagbucks reduces landfills.

Deal factor: free money for a couple of minutes of your time per day, how can you beat that?