"HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE"...?

You always see articles and blog posts with titles like that and they usually mention the same things:
Sell stuff on ebay - did that
Sell stuff on Craigslist - did that
Print online coupons - did that
Create and sell stuff on Cafe Press - done!

Then there are the questionable suggestions like " get paid to listen to music" or "make money watching videos or playing games" and "get paid to shop".  So I thought I would do  some investigative research and see just what kind of $$ they are talking about and how does it work aka how do I get my bucks?

Most of the "get paid to post an article" ( like this one? no way. I'm not giving away my genius to beef up other people's blogs!) don't pay much at all.  Like $5 for a 500 word researched article.  I'm guessing the goal is to get it published on multiple sites.  Still, the time and effort... $5 -  $20 a pop seems a bit depressing.

Then there is YouTube.  Yes some people make a real income on YouTube but your chances of 'going viral' are about the same as winning the lottery.  If you have something interesting to teach and can keep up weekly video tutorials, you can probably build a subscription base and make some ad money.  But that takes a LOT of time and also some luck.

So I did give the music listening a shot.  There are a couple of these sites, I chose slicethepie.  It's actually pretty cool.  Not much of an extra income - after spending two days on the site I cashed out (easily through paypal !) at $17.00.  Yeah, not a thing to do if you need to get your hands on  some dough.  But if you like music and want to listen to new and up-and-coming artists it's fun.  You listen for 90 seconds or more and write helpful reviews.  The better you write and more professional your advice, the more money they pay you.  Basically, you can go from .02 per review to .35... Something like that.  But it is a cool concept.

Free stuff online!  There are tons of sites for free stuff beside Craigslist.  BUT... they are a huge waste of time.  Worse then scrolling through coupons.  I spent a whole night on totallyfreestuff.com, sweetfreestuff.com, freestuff.com, yesall4free.com.  wow.  It was grueling.  I ended up getting a sample of ovaltine, a set of cork drink coasters, a subscription to a health magazine and a "free" Rimmel lipgloss that took 30 minutes to get to the chase !  Nothing is free you guys.  Nothing.  Even freedom costs a buck o five...

I also joined a site called SwagBucks.  This site kind of puts it all under one roof.  There are many ways to earn your SB and a store in which to spend them.  You can earn by watching videos or t.v., playing games, answering survey questions, trade in your old books or games, do all your google searching through their site and earn per search. Sign up for groupons or apps through the site and earn swag bucks.  Once again, too much work and time spent.  I racked up 59 SwagBucks without really trying.  It turns out they should be called Swag pennies because that is what a swag buck is worth.  So, just like in real life the only way to turn my pennies into anything substantial is to put it all on the table and spin the wheel.  They have  "Swagstakes" that you can enter.  Turn 5 Swag bucks into 500!  I will do the same thing I do at a slot machine - play till it's all gone.

I guess what I learned is that a) nothing's free b) your free time really isn't free and c) "making money on the internet" with nothing to sell and no unique service to provide is less profitable then setting up a lemonade stand.  In a high traffic area, of course.